Infrastructure

Supporting Ireland’s higher education ambitions with new infrastructure

Macquarie Capital acted as equity sponsor and exclusive financial adviser to the consortium delivering six new higher education facilities across Ireland

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Sector	Infrastructure
Sub-sector	Education
Location	EMEA

Opportunity

A growing need for modern higher education facilities

The Irish government’s Project Ireland 2040 plan details ambitions to improve the quality of life for its people by investing in comprehensive social, economic, and cultural infrastructure across the country.¹ With Ireland’s population projected to increase by 20 per cent by 2040, a key pillar of the plan includes new investment to address education infrastructure deficits.²

Including PPPs, Project Ireland 2040 will see higher education investment more than triple from €800 million to €2.8 billion over the life of the plan. The first of these investments, the Higher Education PPP Bundle 1, focuses on STEM, ICT, engineering and life sciences at institutes of technology and technological university campus locations around Ireland.³

Approach

Bringing capital and technical expertise together

Macquarie Capital assembled a leading consortium that was selected to deliver the €250 million project, including the design, build, financing, operations and maintenance of six higher education facilities across Ireland over a 25-year concession period following construction.

The consortium consisted of JJ Rhatigan & Company as construction contractor and Sodexo Ireland Limited for facilities management. Our team of infrastructure capital specialists acted as equity sponsor and exclusive financial adviser to the consortium and selected an experienced banking group consisting of three international and two Irish lenders including AIB, Bank of Ireland, Nord/LB, Korea Development Bank and Norinchukin Bank.

Outcome

Working in partnership with JJ Rhatigan & Company and its subcontractors, Macquarie Capital oversaw the successful delivery of six new higher education facilities across Ireland, over a 30-month construction period.

These buildings have created more than 38,000 m2 of additional campus space across the eastern, southern and midlands regions of Ireland, hosting over 5,000 students and helping institutions meet the expected growth in the student population.³

All facilities are designed to focus on practice-based learning, providing laboratories, workshops and studios for students to learn. They are also equipped with the flexibility to adapt to changing teaching and learning needs, whilst supporting the increasing need for hybrid and remote learning.

The buildings are also on track to achieve a BREEAM “Excellent” rating.⁴

The construction of these buildings on multiple campuses across the country will improve the educational experience for current and future generations of students. It also represents an important milestone in the government’s Higher Education PPP programme and illustrates a commitment to investment in the higher education sector.”

Simon Harris
Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (2020-2024)