THE projects team at Dickinson Dees has closed deals worth more than £615m across the public private partnership (PPP) sector within five weeks.

The deals include major projects for the Government's national private finance initiative (PFI) and Building Schools for the Future (BSF) schemes, and cover the education, emergency services, health and libraries sectors.

The deals worked on by the firm, which has bases in Newcastle and Stockton, are:

l Providing legal advice to Newcastle City Council on its £180m BSF project - the first in the North-East.

l Advising Newcastle City Council on a £40m PFI project to rebuild Newcastle Central Library and a branch in High Heaton.

l Advising Mid-Yorkshire Hospitals Trust on its £300m PFI project, which will fund two new hospitals at Wakefield and Pontefract.

l Advising Barclays on a local improvement finance trust worth £30m, which will provide improvements in health facilities in Bury, Greater Manchester.

l Advising Nationwide Building Society on a £65m PFI for Dorset Emergency Services Partnership Initiative, for a joint police divisional and fire service headquarters and two new fire stations.

Partner Tim Care, the head of the projects team, said: "The size, geographical reach and combined value of the deals closed by the projects team within the five-week period represent a phenomenal achievement.

"The team has an outstanding national reputation for public sector expertise, and the deals reflect the capacity the team now has, as well as the scope of the counsel we are providing."