12 Jun 2006

Interserve, the services, maintenance and building group, has been named preferred bidder by Plymouth City Council for its schools PFI programme.

The scheme entails the construction and ongoing maintenance of a new primary school for 450 pupils and of a ground-breaking 'all-through school' for 1,480 which brings together an early-years, primary, secondary and specialist school on a single campus.

Interserve is currently completing one of the first 'all-through' schools in the country in the Hadley Learning Community, Telford, another PFI project, which will open to students this September. Bringing the delivery of primary and secondary education onto one site has been shown to make significant improvements in the academic performance of pupils by maintaining the continuity of their learning experience.

As is the case at Telford, at Plymouth Interserve will be responsible for the design and construction of the schools and for providing facilities services to them through the 25-year operational phase of the PFI contract. Barclay's Private Equity is the consortium's financial partner.

Councillor Pauline Purnell, Plymouth City Council Cabinet Member for Children's Services, said: "With their good track record, we are confident that the consortium will be able to create the schools these communities deserve."

Adrian Ringrose, Chief Executive of Interserve, said: "We are proud to be leading the development of a new way of delivering education to the children in the UK. The lessons we have learnt building schools around the country will help us provide Plymouth with the best possible learning environment for its children. We look forward to delivering two first-class schools to the city."