Interserve will undertake construction work on two schools, Rainford High Technology College and De La Salle School, at a capital cost of £48m, part of which will be financed through a private finance initiative (PFI) structure. On completion, Interserve will also deliver facilities management services at Rainford worth £15 m over 25 years. Agilisys will provide ICT equipment and related managed services.
Interserve and consortium partner Barclays European Infrastructure Fund will each invest £1.8m of equity and subordinated debt in the project, representing 99% of the whole. St Helens council is providing the remaining 1%. Senior debt funding of £33m is being provided by The Co-operative Bank.
At De La Salle, which will have places for 1,215 pupils from ages 11 to 16, some 45% of the buildings will be new while the remainder will undergo major refurbishment. At Rainford, which will take 1,650 pupils, 65% of the facilities will be new. There will be phased handovers, with the final phase at Rainford expected to be ready for occupation in the spring term of 2013 and at De La Salle in the summer term.
E4L and St Helens Council will form the St Helens Local Education Partnership (LEP), through which E4L will have the opportunity to put forward proposals to work with the council on future developments over the next 10 years.
Interserve recently secured three other schools projects worth £42m in Leeds, Nottinghamshire and Coventry and is currently developing on a number of schools in Sandwell, West Midlands, including Sandwell College, which will open in 2011.
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