Aecom, one of the world’s premier infrastructure consulting firms, has announced the start of Wave 1 of the Schools Infrastructure Development Public Private Partnerships (PPP).

The project, which will see a roll-out of up to 4,000 schools, is aimed at expanding the country’s educational infrastructure and readying for significant future demand.

Aecom is the technical advisor lead for Tatweer Buildings Company (TBC), a subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) in Saudi Arabia, which is tasked with facilitating the funding, construction, supervision, management, operations and maintenance of new schools in the kingdom on behalf of the Ministry of Education (MoE), in the region’s first such PPP.

Comprising 27 new schools to be built in Jeddah and 33 schools in Makkah, the design and construction phase for Wave 1 with a heavy focus on sustainability will eventually provide schooling for 50,000 pupils.

The PPP’s ‘Build Maintain Transfer’ model will be applied across all three Waves with the first of the schools opening in Jeddah in August next year.

“With a planned roll-out of up to 4,000 schools, we are thrilled to be at the forefront of Saudi’s first schools’ PPP,” remarked Ian Laski, the CEO and President of Aecom Arabia. “This milestone could not have been reached without two years of hard work from both my Aecom colleagues and the collaborative attitude of the wider team.”

“Wave 2 procurement is now under way and will see Madinah receiving 60 brand new schools, housing a further 50,000 pupils, transforming its educational infrastructure by 2024,” he added.