Interserve and Bowmer emerging as winners in college deals

Significant developments are taking place on college deals totalling £46m in the West Country and the Midlands.

Insiders say that preferred bidders have emerged for a delayed £22.5m Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme in Devon and a £23.5m deal in Leicester.

Interserve is the favourite to steal a march on Midas Construction, the only other contender left in the hunt for the Pathfinder Torquay Community College deal in Devon.

Midas replaced Kier and Cowlin, which both pulled out of the bidding process last year.

Carillion and Leadbitter also priced the scheme, but their bids were expelled late last year.

The project first surfaced late in 2006 and after an extension to tender deadlines, was expected to be awarded last November and then at the end of 2007, instead of the initial deadline of July 2007.

A start on site was originally scheduled for last November.

It is now expected that the client is ready to officially name its preferred contractor imminently. The award will be followed by a 16-week lead-in detailed design period, with the new college expected to take around two years to complete.

The new building will span around 9,700m2 and range from single- to three-storey.

The college will be built on the existing Fairfield Road campus and the current building will be knocked down when the new facility is up and running.

And Bowmer & Kirkland is in second-stage tender negotiations to design and build a new campus for South Leicestershire College.

The deal includes teaching accommodation, offices and workshops.

It is expected that following the completion of enabling works, the construction of the new campus will begin in earnest during August.

The new college is expected to be up and running within 18 months.