Bouygues drops £70m Uni PFI

A French-led consortium has pulled out of bidding for an education project in Hertfordshire, worth up to £70m.

The Ensemble group, consisting of Bouygues and SCIC, has turned its back on the design, construct and finance deal at University of Hertfordshire.

The centrepiece of the scheme, valued at between £60m and £70m, focuses on 1,000 student residences at the College Lane campus in Hatfield and involves a mix of new build and upgrading.

A source at Bouygues said: "It is a case of priorities - we're already heavily involved in several PFI projects and we had to consider the issue of bidding costs and resources if we also added the Hertfordshire contract to our workload."

The deal will now be contested by the remaining three bidders - AWG, Carillion and Jarvis.

A preferred bidder is expected to surface during July or August. Financial close is due in January 2004, with a start on site likely very soon after.

The maintenance and operation concession will run either for 25 or 30 years, depending on negotiations.