Carillion and its joint venture partners in the Local Education Partnership (LEP), have been appointed as the preferred bidder for the £500 million Durham Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, part of the UK Government's £45 billion BSF programme.

The LEP, comprising Durham County Council, Building Schools for the Future Investments LLP (BSFI) and Carillion, will deliver over 40 schools in four distinct Waves over the 10-year contract period.

The first Wave of nine schools, which comprises seven secondary schools, one Special Educational Needs (SEN) school and one primary school with a combined capital cost of approximately £110 million, will be completed by September 2012.

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Three schools in the first Wave will be privately financed by a combination of borrowing and equity. Barclays and Nationwide will each provide £25 million of the £50 million of debt finance required. The LEP shareholders will contribute approximately £6.2 million of equity, of which Carillion will provide approximately £5 million. Carillion will also provide facilities management services for the three privately financed schools, worth approximately £25 million over the 25-year concession period.

The three subsequent Waves of the Durham BSF programme will deliver the remaining schools with an estimated capital cost of £390 million.

Commenting, Carillion Chief Executive, John McDonough, said: "This latest success further consolidates Carillion's position as one of the UK's leading suppliers to the Building Schools for the Future programme and brings the total value of the BSF projects that we have won or for which we are preferred bidder to over £1.0 billion.

"The major investment being made in Durham will provide the County with over 40 outstanding new schools. We look forward to building strong and successful relationships with Durham and its head teachers and their staff, in order to provide the facilities they need to deliver a first class learning experience for students."

(CD/JM)