20 schools across the North-east, midlands and London will be first to come to market through the Priority School Building Programme
The Education Funding Agency (EFA) has unveiled the details of the first schools to come to market through the government’s flagship school building programme, six months later than originally planned.
The EFA said the first batches to come to the market through the £400m directly-funded part of the Priority School Building Programme (PSBP) comprised 20 schools, worth up to £154m, across the North-east, midlands and London.
The first batch of schools covers the North-east, comprising nine schools worth between £60-64m.The EFA said the tender for the schools would be released this month.
The next batch covers the midlands and comprises six schools worth between £32-36m, with tenders to be issued this month.
This is to be followed by a further batch covering London, comprising five schools worth £44-45m, with a tender expected in early November.
The EFA said there would be eight batches of directly-funded schools in total, with feasibility studies on the remaining five batches expected to be completed by January next year, with the schools to come to market soon after.
All eight batches will be procured through the EFA’s Contractors’ Framework.
Mike Green, the EFA’s director of capital, said that contractors competing for batches of schools under PSBP would not be limited on the number they can bid for or win.
He added that all 12 firms on the northern section of the academies framework attended the bidders’ day in Stockton for the north east batch.
Green also confirmed that the baseline designs and output specification that the EFA has released would not directly apply to the capital funded schools, but that it was “important that bidders understood the direction of travel”.
Work through the PSBP was initially expected to be tendered in April 2012 so construction could begin in 2012 but, as Building first revealed in March, was then pushed back to “late summer”.
Batches of schools + local authority areas
North East (9 schools): Durham, East Riding, Gateshead, Sheffield, Stockton, Sunderland
The first bidders’ day on 11 October focuses on the North East nine PSPB schools in this region with an approximate capital build cost of £60-64 million. The batch consists of four primary, three secondary and two special schools in the local authority areas of Durham, East Riding, Gateshead, Sheffield, Stockton and Sunderland. The bidders’ day is actually taking place in the sample school for this batch – Ian Ramsey School, a Church of England secondary school to be built for 1,200 pupils.
Midlands 1 (6 schools): Coventry
The second bidders’ day on 18 October focuses on the first of our Midlands batches – Midlands 1. There are six PSPB schools in this batch with an approximate capital build cost of £32-36 million. The batch consists of four primary, one secondary and one special school in Coventry. The sample school for this batch is Whitmore Park School – a community primary to be built for 630 pupils.
London (5 schools): Barnet, Greenwich, Lambeth, Newham. Waltham Forest
The third bidders’ day later this month/early next month focuses on the London batch. There are five PSPB schools in this batch with an approximate capital build cost of £44-54 million. The batch consists of one primary, two secondary and two special schools in the London boroughs of Barnet, Greenwich, Lambeth, Newham and Waltham Forest. The sample school for this batch is Stratford Academy – a secondary school to be built for 1,500 pupils.
North West 1
Blackpool, Cheshire West, Halton, Manchester, Tameside
South
Devon, Isle of Wight, Kent, Poole, Southampton
East
Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire
Midlands 2
Birmingham, Derby, Nottinghamshire
North West 2
Liverpool, St Helens, Wirral
EFA’s Contractors’ Framework
| Sector 1: North and the Midlands |
| Balfour Beatty Construction Ltd |
| BAM Construction Ltd |
| Bovis Lend Lease Ltd |
| Carillion Construction |
| Clugston Construction |
| Interserve Projects Services |
| Kier Regional Ltd |
| Shepherd Construction |
| Sir Robert McAlpine |
| VINCI Construction Ltd |
| Wates |
| Willmott Dixon |
| Sector 2: London, the South and the South and East of England |
| Apollo Property Services |
| Balfour Beatty Construction Ltd |
| BAM Construction Ltd |
| Bovis Lend Lease Ltd |
| Carillion Construction |
| Interserve Projects Services |
| JB Leadbitter & Co Ltd |
| Kier Regional Ltd |
| Rydon Group Ltd |
| Sir Robert McAlpine |
| Wates |
| Willmott Dixon |
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