News 08.02.2022

A UK-Finnish consortium KOULU delivering 75 schools to Peru

A consortium of companies from the UK and Finland have been selected as Peru’s delivery partner to build 75 new schools to mark Peru’s bicentenary year as part of the Proyecto Especial de Inversión Pública – Escuelas Bicentenario (PEIP-EB). The consortium, ‘Koulu’ (Finnish for "school"), is formed of Mace, Gleeds, Arup and 4global from the UK and Finnish companies AFRY, Polar Partners, LMA and ISKU. Polar Partners, LMA and ISKU are members of Education Finland.
Group of people standing in the signing ceremony of the G2G agreement in Peru
Signing of the G2G agreement in November (Photo: Elisa Ahlsten/MfFA)

In November 2021, the UK Government signed a G2G agreement with the Government of Peru to support the construction of 75 new public schools in Peru. Kate Harrisson, British Ambassador to Peru signed in representation of Department for International Trade and Patricia Alvarado, Executive Director of PEIP-EB signed in representation of Peruvian Government.

The Ambassador of Finland was present in the signing ceremony marking the important participation of Finnish companies in the project. The UK and Finland consortium, led by Mace and Gleeds and including AFRY, Polar Partners, 4global, LMA, ISKU and Arup, has been appointed by the PEIP-EB, a special entity first of its kind in Peru set up by Peru’s Ministry of Education (MINEDU). The G2G enables Technical Assistance that will be provided to PEIP-EB, who is ultimately responsible to deliver this important social programme.

The programme includes the construction of 59 schools in the Metropolitan Lima area and also 16 Emblematic Schools distributed between Puno, Junín, Cajamarca, Lambayeque, La Libertad, Callao, Lima province, Ucayali and Cusco.

The British firms will bring expertise across the project lifecycle and local supply chain knowledge to provide Project Management Office (PMO) services, technical assurance, procurement and knowledge transfer services that will improve capacity and capability across the Peruvian public sector. The British companies will also provide project management services across the construction phase, bringing their global experience to support PEIP in delivering the schools to time, cost and quality.

Drawing on Finland’s track record in delivering one of the world’s highest quality education systems, the Finnish consortium members will bring their pedagogical competence in the knowledge transfer & training process as well as on the design of Peru’s new learning environments as part of the programme.Knowledge transfer is at the heart of the UK and Finland’s approach to the PEIP programme of work, as well as a shared interest in assuring the resilience and sustainability of the projects, helping to improve education outcomes for young people in Peru.

Mr. Jukka Pietikäinen, Finnish Ambassador in Lima, said: “We are delighted and proud to be part of this project. Finland believes in the importance of international collaboration, and, thus, we wish that this project will strengthen our ties with the Perúvian educational sector. The Finnish companies AFRY, Polar Partners, LMA, and ISKU have solid international experience exporting Finland’s education know-how in designing school infrastructure, modern learning environments, school furniture and training teachers with the best international standards. I rest assured this project will mark a key milestone in Finnish education exports worldwide, especially in Latin America.”

 

For further information, please contact:
 

Polar Partners Ltd
Maria Haapaniemi, CEO
tel. +358 50 3611 510
Email: maria.haapaniemi@polapartners.fi