Exclusive: Morgan Sindall beats rivals to take batch of private finance schools in the North-west

School designs

Morgan Sindall has been chosen as the main contractor for a £120m batch of private finance schools in the North-west of England, Building can reveal.

It is understood that Morgan Sindall’s joint venutre with Equitix has seen of competition from Laing O’Rourke and Vinci Construction for the batch of schools, which came to market through the private finance element (Pf2) of the Priority Schools Building Programme (PSBP).

The batch, which comprises 12 schools, is the third of five batches of privately-financed schools to come to market through the PSBP (see box below).

Update: The Education Funding Agency (EFA) has now confirmed it has appointed the Morgan Sindall and Equitix joint venture as the selected bidder for the batch of schools, which it said was worth £80m-£120m.

The EFA said the batch comprises five secondary schools and seven primary schools.

The EFA said under the Pf2 deal Morgan Sindall would be responsible for the design and construction of the schools as well as the provision of maintenance and lifecycle services over a 25 year period.

The EFA and Morgan Sindall will now enter into a seven month detailed design stage through to financial close, which is expected in March 2015.

Construction is due to start from March 2015 with all planned completions due by September 2017 or earlier.

The secondary schools in this batch are:

  • Blacon High School, Blacon
  • The Deanery Church of England High School and Sixth Form College, Wigan
  • Neston High School, Neston
  • Ridgeway High School, Prenton
  • South Shore Academy, Blackpool

The primary schools in this batch are:

  • Bedford Drive Primary School, Birkenhead
  • Bridge Hall Primary School, Stockport
  • Dee Point Primary School, Blacon
  • Halebank Primary School, Halebank, Halton
  • Hawes Side Primary School, Blackpool
  • JH Godwin Primary School, Blacon
  • Plymouth Grove Primary School, Manchester

Pf2 priority schools batches

Hertfordshire, Luton, Reading - £150m

Winner: Interserve-Kajima

Shortlisted: Wates; Morgan Sindall

North-east - £120m

Winner: Miller Construction

Shortlist: Sir Robert McAlpine; Laing O’Rourke

North-west - £93m

Winner: Morgan Sindall

Shortlisted: Laing O’Rourke; Vinci

Yorkshire - £120m

Shortlist: Bam Construction; Morgan Sindall; Laing O’Rourke.

Midlands - £150m

Shortlist: Bam Construction; Carillion and Equitix; Interserve and Kajima

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