Morgan Sindall named preferred bidder for £400m Hull BSF

Hull City Council has named the Morgan Sindall-led Esteem consortium as prefereed bidder on its £400m PFI Building Schools for the Future programme.

The consortium, comprising Morgan Sindall Investments, Robertson Capital Projects and the Sewell Group, has in its sights a 25-year concession to deliver 17 schools, seven new builds and major refurbishments to a further 10 schools.

Construction work will begin in February 2010 and is expected to complete in January 2014.

Morgan Sindall's construction business, Morgan Ashurst, is a key delivery partner on the project alongside Sewell Construction. The value of the project to Morgan Ashurst is £200m.

MSIL will invest equity and sub-debt of £2.5m into the delivery of the first school and the establishment of the Local Education Partnership, with further investment expected throughout the duration of the programme.

MSIL's equity stake in the project will be 26.7%.  Esteem will provide project and operational management and new project development services into the Local Education Partnership under a 10-year exclusive strategic partnering contract.

Paul Smith, chief executive of Morgan Sindall, said: "This award demonstrates Morgan Sindall's continuing strength in the education sector and our ability to deliver projects that require integrated investment and construction capabilities."