Turner & Townsend wins second tranche of free schools

Turner & Townsend has won the second tranche of 12 contracts to design the government’s flagship free schools.

The firm won a technical services contract, which means it will provide architectural design, project management, structural and civils work, M&E and cost management.

The first tranche of eight schools was won by Capita Symonds, while DTZ will provide property services, and law firm Dickinson Dees will give legal advice to the entire group.

Dominic Honey, schools sector leader at Turner & Townsend, said that the vast majority of the schools were refurbishments of existing buildings and so budgets would be small.
“Some might be £100-150,000, some could go up to £5m. The vast majority of these are conversions.”

He said that “dozens” of employees at T&T had been assigned to the project but that the project was not highly profitable. “The margins they are looking at are very tight,” he said.

He said the company had begun to help advise parents groups on business cases for new schools in the past few weeks, but said it was “too early to say” if all the free schools would be open for the government’s target date of September 2011.