Kier bags £127m Academies work

Kier has clinched two new academy deals worth a combined £127m in Cumbria and north-east Lincolnshire under the National Academies framework.

The wins see Kier and Willmott Dixon neck and neck, with both firms winning £286m of work so far under the framework.

The £90m Cumbria Academies programme will see four new academies built over three phases. Work on the first academy will begin early next year. Kier beat Laing O’Rourke to win the job. Laing O’Rourke has failed to win any work so far under the framework. Kier’s £37m north-east Lincolnshire deal involves a new technology college and one new academy in Grimsby.

Kier’s other wins under the framework include the £35m Milton Keynes Academy deal, the Samworth Academy and the Norwich Academy deals, both worth £20m, the £26m Wirral Academy deal and the £22m Shropshire Academy.

Kier is also sole bidder on the £26m Sefton One School Pathfinder in Liverpool. The firm is also challenging Balfour Beatty for the £30m Wellington Academy and squaring up to Willmott Dixon for the £20m Herefordshire Academies deal.

Meanwhile, Balfour Beatty is competing with Willmott Dixon for the £32m Hope Academy in St Helen’s.