On Monday 9 October Minister Zalm (Finance) and Minister Van der Hoeven (Education) will open the first school in The Netherlands to be built under Public Private Partnership (PPP). The new building of the Montaigne Lyceum was realized by TalentGroep, who not only designed and built the school, but will also be responsible for its operation for a period of 28½ years.
The official opening of the new building of the Montaigne Lyceum will take place on Monday 9 October 2006 at 12.30 hrs. After the ceremonial opening the Ministers will be invited to give their view on this innovative education concept. Amongst others they will debate with students during a talk show that is hosted by the headmaster of the school. Also representatives of TalentGroep, the architect, the board of SCO Lucas and the central board of Esloo Education Group, of which the Montaigne Lyceum is a part, will take part in this talk show. Afterwards guests will be taken on a tour through the new school.
Unique building and management concept
The Montaigne Lyceum is the first school in The Netherlands in which the design, construction, fitting out, maintenance, funding, management and commercial operation of a school has been tendered out as a single integrated contract. SCO Lucas, the municipality of The Hague, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science jointly decided to use the PPP model for the Montaigne Lyceum. One of the advantages of this way of tendering is that the school can fully focus on teaching, as TalentGroep takes care of the management and maintenance. In addition, studies of Ernst & Young show that not only a financial benefit of 16 percent was realized for this PPP project, but a clear qualitative added value too.
Unique education concept
The building was specifically developed to reflect the educational vision of the Montaigne Lyceum. The students work in so called ‘learning domains’, large education spaces where students can work individually as well as in small groups. They are taught according to modern education standards, students are encouraged to take as much responsibility as possible for their own learning process. The school aims to integrate as far as possible with the neighbourhood in which it is located, by making facilities available to the local community. Parents, societies and other group can make use of various facilities when not in use, such as three gyms, meetings rooms and a 200-seat theatre.
About the Montaigne Lyceum
The Montaigne Lyceum is an innovative school community for Lower Secondary education, Higher Secondary education and various levels of further education. It teaches students according to the principles of the 16th century French philosopher after whom the school is named, Michel de Montaigne. He summarized his ideas as ‘learning from yourself, learning together and learning in the world’. This indicates what the Montaigne Lyceum stands for and what it does. The school currently has 700 students and is expected to grow to 1200 students in the near future. It is part of the Esloo Education Group, with branches in The Hague and Voorburg. The Esloo Group forms part of SCO Lucas (Stichting Confessioneel Onderwijs Lucas, an educational foundation).
About TalentGroep
TalentGroep is a consortium consisting of the installation company Imtech, the general contractor Strukton and ISS Facility Services, wishing jointly to develop their knowledge and experience and apply this for future PPP schools in The Netherlands. They see PPP as contributing to the improvement of educational accommodation in The Netherlands. Advisors are BNG, KPMG and Allen & Overy.