£172m South Tyneside and Gateshead BSF shortlist announced

South Tyneside and Gateshead councils have announced three shortlisted bidders for their £172m Building Schools for the Future (BSF) initiative.

The shortlisted firms are: Bespoke Environments, which includes Bilfinger Berger Bot and Gleeson; Excell2gether, which includes Equion and Shepherd; and Inspiredspaces, which includes Carillion.

The final three will be narrowed down to a preferred bidder over the next 12 to 18 months, after which work will begin on site.

Work includes the construction of 13 new schools across 11 sites in the region.

Both authorities came together to form the BSF project – the only successful bid involving two councils.