News article

On Tuesday 19th May Aura Newcastle was awarded "Best Private Sector Consortium" at the 11th anniversary of the Public Private Finance Awards, hosted by Hugh Dennis.

Aura Newcastle was one of the first Local Education Partnerships set up to
deliver the Building Schools for the Future programme. A consortium of Robertson Capital Projects, Sir Robert McAlpine,Parsons Brinckerhoff and Robertson Facilities Management.  Established for only two years, Aura has already delivered the largest proportion of BSF schools in the country to date.

In 2008, Aura handed over six new schools and a major refurbishment project, with a combined capital value of circa £130 million.  It has been working on the development of a further nine schools with a total capital value of £128 million, which will commence construction in June 2009.

In the true spirit of the BSF programme, Aura is using the design and build process to support learning, with its supply chain partners providing students with work placements, apprenticeships, graduate schemes and mentoring support for Construction and Built Environment Diplomas.

The Public Private Finance Awards has become the biggest event of the year for the public private partnerships industry, attended by over 1,200 people who come to celebrate the best deals of the year, to network with the most senior people in the industry – and to keep on eye on how deal structures are evolving. A panel of some of the most respected and experienced professionals from the public and private sectors formed the judging panel.