Interserve has been awarded a place on the new £4 billion Partnerships for Schools (PfS) national Contractors' Framework, covering the design and build of Academies and other educational facilities throughout England.

There are two separate regions for the framework, North and the Midlands, and London and the South, and Interserve has been selected for both, giving it two places of the 24 awarded.

PfS expects to be able to offer the successful contractors up to £500m of work for which to bid in the first five months of the framework from November 2009 onwards, with the framework then expected to run for four years. It will operate in tandem with the current Academies Framework, which will remain in place until December 2010.

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Local authorities that are currently engaged in the BSF programme will continue to procure Academies through Local Education Partnerships (LEPs) in the same way as other educational facilities. The procurement and project management expertise which PfS already provides to the BSF programme will ensure that similar economies of scale are achieved in the Academies programme, and that it is delivered in the most cost-effective and efficient way.

Adrian Ringrose, Interserve Chief Executive, said: "The National Contractors Framework represents an excellent opportunity to provide outstanding educational facilities across England. Interserve has a great deal of experience in planning and building schools at all levels and we look forward to working within the framework to create the kind of learning environments that will enable pupils to excel."

(CD/BMcC)