Currie & Brown supporting National University of Colombia on student residence project

24 February 2021

Currie & Brown is providing advisory services to the National University of Colombia and the National Department of Planning on the construction of student residences at the university’s Manizales campus.

Having identified in 2019 that 40% of its students were non-resident, and only 4% had adequate living arrangements while studying, the university implemented a ‘student accommodation programme’ across its campuses, to provide on-campus housing to students whose socio-economic conditions made them vulnerable.

The Manizales campus project comprises the design, build, finance, operation and maintenance of new student residences under a public-private partnership (PPP) model. Currie & Brown will advise on the structuring of the project, which will be carried out in two phases.

Phase one consists of four deliverables, preparing the PPP contract with its technical, economic, financial and legal annexes. This will follow an evaluation of the project’s legal requirements, a feasibility study and the authority of the university to enter into a PPP agreement.

In phase two Currie & Brown’s team will provide advice and support through the procurement procedures, the signing-off of the PPP contract through to achieving financial close, and the implementation of the project.

Miguel Donovan, director in our Mexico office, remarked: “The Currie & Brown teams in Colombia and Mexico have extensive knowledge of public-private partnerships, and we are pleased to be able to support the National University of Colombia as they seek to provide housing solutions for their students.”