Five chasing £86m Devon college deal

Five rivals are on the register for an £80m-plus college deal in the West Country.

The roll-call for the Barnstaple-based North Devon College £86m redevelopment project is Bovis Lend Lease, Laing O'Rourke, Sir Robert McAlpine, plus regional players Cowlin and Pearce.

An insider said: "The smaller companies are up against three national heavyweights, but all five firms are more than capable of carrying out work like this and all have impressive track records. With a job of this value, the stakes are high and this has all the hallmarks of a very fierce bid contest."

As usual for jobs of this kind, the work is being procured under a design-and-build, two-stage tender process.

A start on site is expected around April 2009, with the new college due to open its doors in time for the start of the September 2011 term.

The scheme involves a new college campus with a four-storey building as its centrepiece, plus sports facilities, a business innovation centre, and a theatre. The college will relocate from its present Old Sticklepath Hill campus, to a nearby site to be known as the Seven Brethren campus.

The intention is to sell the current site to a developer, who is expected to build houses on the land.

Drivers Jonas is project-managing the scheme, which has been designed by Bath-based architect Feilden Clegg Bradley.