Three firms shortlisted for £120m North-east schools

Laing O’Rourke, Miller Construction and Sir Robert McAlpine have been shortlisted for the second batch of private finance schools to come to market through the government’s flagship school building programme.

The Education Funding Agency announced on Monday (16 September), that the three firms had been invited to bid for the £120m batch of private finance schools in the North-east of England.

The batch comprises six primary schools and six secondary schools.

The batch is the second of five Priority School Building Programme (PSBP) batches to be procured through the government’s new Pf2 private finance initiative.

As Building revealed last month, Wates, Morgan Sindall and Interserve were shortlisted for the first batch of schools, worth up to £150m, in the Hertfordshire, Luton and Reading area.

The official contract notice issued by the EFA for the schools said contractors would be asked to design, build, finance and maintain the new build schools.

It said services required are “likely to include hard facilities management services and may also include some soft facilities services”.

It said the term of the contract would include a 24 month construction phase and a 25 year operational term from the service commencement date of the final school to be completed in the batch.

The schools included in the North-east batch are:

• Mandale Mill Primary School
• Longbenton Community College
• Front Street Community Primary School
• Lingey House Primary School
• Roman Road Primary School
• Seaham School of Technology
• Bedlingtonshire Community High School
• The Duchess’s Community High School
• Laurence Jackson School
• Hylton Castle Primary School
• Hetton School
• Shiney Row Primary School

The remaining three Pf2 batches are expected to be brought to market within the next 12 months. They comprise:

North-west (£93m, 12 schools)
Yorkshire (£97m, seven schools)
Midlands (£122m, eight schools)