Serco, the international service company, has announced that its consortium has been selected by the UK government's National Offender Management Service (NOMS) as the preferred bidder to provide and operate two new prisons at Belmarsh West, London and Maghull, Liverpool.

Under Design, Construct, Manage and Finance contracts, Serco will operate the prisons and these contracts are expected to have a combined value to Serco of around £600m over 26½ years.

Serco will now finalise commercial arrangements with NOMS. It is anticipated that construction of the prisons, by Serco's construction partner Skanska, will begin in the first half of 2010, with completion in the second half of 2011.

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The prisons will be designed and built to Category B standards, and will accommodate up to 900 male prisoners for Belmarsh West and 800 for Maghull. As well as ensuring a secure and safe environment, Serco will use its operational expertise to ensure a highly effective and efficient prison design, to train and mentor new staff and to deliver a range of innovative services.

In conjunction with its partners Turning Point and Catch22, Serco will seek to create an environment for change in order to discourage offenders from reoffending and prepare them for employment on release, and will also support effective delivery of services such as healthcare and education in conjunction with other providers.

(CD/JM)