UNIVERSITY OF CRETE - STUDENT ACCOMMODATION PPP

The project concerns the design, construction, financing and operation of student accommodation and other facilities for the University of Crete using the public-private partnership (PPP), design-build-finance-operate-maintain (DBFOM) procurement method.

The aim is to create student accommodation in areas with acute shortages, providing increased amounts of lower cost accommodation that enables students from lower-income families to access higher education and decreasing living costs for some students in these locations. The project will also create new educational infrastructure to address existing shortages in teaching space. The University of Crete aims to further improve the quality and relevance of the teaching in the higher education sphere, which has been blighted by under investment nationally, in particular during the years following the financial crisis.

The project covers facilities of a kind that are not specifically mentioned in the environmental impact assessment (EIA) Directive 2011/92/EU as amended by the Directive 2014/52/EU, though the project is covered by Annex II of the Directive in relation to urban development. The project will be developed in two of the University of Crete campuses, which have been assessed for their impact on the environment, and the competent authorities have issued positive decisions. It includes new buildings which will comply with the 2010/31/EU Directive and will potentially deliver facilities with higher energy performance compared to the nearly zero-energy building (NZEB) requirements in national measures. The project is located in a less developed region as defined by the EU cohesion policy and is expected to support the strengthening of the EU's economic, social and territorial cohesion. The project concerns investments in the accessibility and quality of a university located outside Greece's economic, population and educational hubs of Attica and Central Macedonia, thereby contributing to better-balanced territorial development, counteracting excessive concentration, strengthening secondary growth poles, and reducing inequalities between people and between places.

The promoter has to ensure that contracts for the implementation of the project have been tendered in accordance with the relevant applicable EU procurement legislation, Directive 2014/24/EU, where applicable, as well as Directive 89/665/EEC as interpreted by the Court of Justice of the EU, with publication of tender notices in the EU Official Journal, as and where required. Contract notice was published in the OJEU with reference number 2019/S 208-506482.