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Balfour Beatty appointed preferred bidder for £450 million Building Schools for the Future PPP project

Balfour Beatty has been appointed as preferred bidder by Blackburn with Darwen and Bolton Councils for their £450 million PPP Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.

The 25-year concession involves the delivery of a major capital investment programme comprising the extensive building or remodelling of nine schools in Blackburn and Darwen by 2015. Balfour Beatty will also be building or remodelling 15 schools, two special schools and seven pupil referral units in Bolton.

Commenting on the project, Balfour Beatty Chief Executive, Ian Tyler said:

"This award demonstrates Balfour Beatty’s continuing strength and expertise in the education sector. We are delighted to be creating first-class learning environments for both students and teachers in Blackburn, Darwen and Bolton and look forward to delivering our tenth PPP education project."

All construction and facilities management will be carried out by Balfour Beatty. ICT services across all the schools will be delivered in conjunction with Northgate, a leading supplier of ICT solutions to the UK education sector.

Balfour Beatty will invest equity of £3.3 million into the delivery of the first school, Pleckgate High School, with the potential for a total of up to £20 million equity investment in the programme as a whole.

Earlier this year Balfour Beatty announced it had reached financial close on the £200 million Southwark BSF PPP contract which will deliver a major capital investment programme over three phases covering 12 schools across the Borough.