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Bam in line for £67m high school framework

Bam Construction_Kepier School_Sunderland_Main_Entrance

Bam Construction has been named as the preferred bidder on a £67m framework to build five secondary schools in the North-east.

The contractor will deliver a new building at the Kepier sample school in Houghton-le-Spring, Sunderland, with construction expected to get under way in January next year.

Contracts for batches under the Priority Schools Building Programme – in this case for five schools – are awarded based on tender proposals for sample schools. 

The North-east batch will also see Bam carry out work at two schools in Hartlepool, plus one in Newcastle and another in Durham.

A spokesman for Bam told Construction News that these projects could be on site by the middle of next year.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) named Bam the preferred bidder following a competitive tender process.

Bam project director Tony Fitzgerald said: “What we sought to do is listen carefully and understand the requirements and aspirations of the ESFA and the school to ensure we provide a high-quality and efficient design solution to meet their needs, but also provide the ESFA with value for money.”

The five schools are part of the Capital Framework North East Batch A of priority schools.

Bam confirmed that it is also bidding on a batch of schools in Yorkshire, with St Theresa’s Catholic Primary School in Leeds serving as the sample scheme.

Both batches are part of the ESFA’s £2bn Priority School Building Programme 2 (PSBP 2), which will see 277 schools refurbished or rebuilt between 2015 and 2021.

Bam previously carried out work on PSBP 1, which included four schools in Devon valued at £38m.

The company was also selected as the preferred bidder on a batch of schools in London for PSBP 1 in 2014, but exited the project when it failed to agree costs on the £46m framework with the Education Funding Agency, as it was then known. 

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