ABSTRACT
The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) has the potential to be a gale of creative destruction for existing methods of delivering public services. Professional firms have been structured as unlimited partnerships, and have earned their living exclusively from professional fees. The PFI represents the best, and in many cases the only, realistic option that Scottish local authorities have for implementing essential new projects. If PFI develops in the way that is anticipated, this role will need to evolve. If architects, surveyors and designers are to take a leading role in the new PFI service companies, then they will have to be structured in such a way as to take some of the equity risks in these companies. In order to take such a long term position, it is likely that professional firms in the design sector will need to incorporate and have a permanent risk capital base which they can allocate in part to the new service companies.
