Hull City Council has today become the 50^th council to close a partnership deal with the private sector as part of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.

The £400m Local Education Partnership contract to rebuild or refurbish 17 schools in Hull, which has been awarded to the Esteem consortium, is the 20th BSF contract to reach financial close in this financial year.

The scheme will see seven new build and 10 others which will undergo major refurbishments.

The Esteem Consortium consists of Morgan Sindall Investments, Robertson Capital Projects, and Sewell Group.

Tim Byles, chief executive of Partnerships for Schools, the quango in charge of delivering capital programmes to schools, said the total value of contracts awarded under BSF was now £5bn.

“Economic conditions over the past 12 months have provided us with a challenging backdrop for BSF, but we have worked closely and collaboratively with colleagues in the private sector to ensure that we could deal flexibly and nimbly to the prevailing climate.

“The pace of delivery and the quality of new and refurbished schools we are seeing is also testament to the good relationships PfS has nurtured with both the public and private sector.”

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