Partnership named as preferred bidder to deliver 40 schools in the county over 10 years

Carillion and its joint venture partners in the Durham local education partnership (LEP) have been appointed as preferred bidder for the £500m county's Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme

The LEP, which also includes Durham County Council and Building Schools for the Future Investments, will deliver over 40 schools in four waves over the 10-year contract period.

The first wave of nine schools, comprising seven secondary, one primary and one special educational needs school, with a combined capital cost of around £110m, are due for completion by September 2012.

Three schools in the first wave will be privately financed by a combination of borrowing and equity. Barclays and Nationwide will each provide £25m of the £50m of debt finance required. The LEP shareholders will contribute around £6.2m of equity, with Carillion accounting for £5.0m of this.

Carillion will also provide facilities management services for the three privately financed schools, worth approximately £25m over the 25-year concession period.

The three subsequent waves of the Durham BSF programme will deliver the remaining schools, with an estimated capital cost of £390m.

The UK government's national BSF programme is worth £45bn in total.

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