Social infrastructure

Schools

Schools built and maintained under a PPP / PFI: bundles of buildings delivered once, then paid for through a fixed, indexed unitary charge over 25-30 years. Revenue does not depend on pupil numbers: it is an availability payment, cut only by deductions for unavailability or performance. Long, government-backed, inflation-linked and demand-risk-free, this is the lowest-risk PPP there is. Below, pick a real programme and follow it through the development, the model and a working returns model.

In focus ·
Example

Drag the sliders to see what earns the money: the pupil places, the unitary charge on each, and how fully available the buildings are. Enrolment has no effect.

8k places
Places
Availability
Unitary charge
recurring revenue p.a.
EBITDA p.a.

01

What it is & how it works

02

How it earns

Model A · the availability PPP

The lowest-risk government annuity

A schools PPP / PFI is the availability layer of social infrastructure: schools built once, often in batches or bundles, then paid for through a fixed, indexed unitary charge over 25-30 years that covers capital, financing, lifecycle and facilities management. What sets the model apart is that revenue does not depend on pupil numbers: it is an availability payment, cut only by deductions for unavailability or poor performance. The consortium takes no demand risk. The cash flow therefore comes down to the pupil places, the charge per place and how fully available the buildings are; enrolment sits outside it. With long, government-backed, inflation-linked cash flows and only light FM on simple buildings, it is the lowest-risk PPP in the market, which is why these bundles trade and reprice tightly on the secondary market.

03

What it costs, and how it's financed

Revenue → operating costs → EBITDAMargin

The capital, net of contributions
Who funds the buildallocation

    History & framework · key milestones
      04

      Cash flows & returns

      Build & contributions

      m
      m
      %
      %

      Revenue regime & tax

      m
      m
      %
      ×

      Financing & hold

      ×
      %
      %
      y
      Unlevered IRR
      asset / project return
      Levered IRR
      return to equity
      Equity multiple
      MOIC over hold
      Payback
      project, undiscounted
      Cash-flow profile, equity invested   returned
      Show the year-by-year schedule
      05

      What drives the return

        See also the Schools PPP simulator (build and run a schools bundle) and the Cash-flow & DCF model.