Proposals to build new 21st century secondary schools in Nottingham under the £90 million Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme has reached a major milestone with the announcement of its selected bidder.

Following a stringent selection and scoring process in line with European Union procurement rules, Nottingham City Council has selected Inspiredspaces as the Private Sector Partner for the Local Education Partnership. The Inspiredspaces consortium includes Carillion as a construction partner and Ramesys as the ICT managed service provider. The consortium will join the City Council and Partnerships for Schools, via Building Schools for the Future Investments (BSFI)), to form the Local Education partnership (LEP).

The LEP will build eight schools in Wave 2 of the Government's BSF programme. The first phase of Wave 2 includes a new secondary school in the north of the city for Big Wood in Top Valley; the remodelling and complete refurbishment of Hadden Park High School, and a new special school (Centre of Excellence) on the integrated Harvey Hadden Campus in Bilborough to replace Aspley Wood and Shepherd Special Schools. Building work on the first schools in Wave 2 is on track to start in early Summer 2008 with opening planned for Autumn 2009. Work should be fully completed in 2010. The remaining five schools in Wave 2 are due to be complete by 2010/11. The LEP is also expected to build three new Academies in Bulwell, Bilborough and the east of the City.

To get to this stage the City Council has worked closely with the schools, pupils, parents, teachers and governors to develop the proposed plans for the schools and surrounding communities.

The BSF programme is a huge opportunity to create modern schools. But their impact on the wider regeneration of the neighbourhoods in which they are built, is also enormously significant. In addition to building and remodelling schools, the LEP will bring huge benefits to the city including:

• Targeted recruitment and training that will contribute to the overall goal of boosting employment and economic opportunities in the City
• High standards of sustainable development contributing to the City Council’s ambition to become a carbon-neutral council by 2016 and a carbon neutral city by 2100
• A commitment to the City Council’s Transforming Nottingham’s Neighbourhoods agenda. For example, communities surrounding each of the schools will be encouraged to use the new school facilities, which include a café, multi-use games area and gym, adult education facilities, sports pitches, public spaces and with the new special school (Centre of Excellence) potential use of a hot pool by the community
• An ICT service that will link all secondary schools into the same systems, allow pupils and teachers to access facilities remotely and share information, can be accessed by the community and will encourage ‘anytime, anywhere learning’

Councillor Jane Urquhart, Nottingham City Council’s Portfolio holder for Children’s Services, said:

"This is a major milestone for Building Schools for the Future. We asked our bidders to be ambitious in their proposals for Nottingham and to be as inspirational and imaginative as possible. We are confident that together the City Council and Inspiredspaces can give Nottingham the most exciting 21st century schools of which we can all be proud. We can now work with Inspired Spaces to finalise the proposals for the partnership with a view to building work starting in the summer."

Tim Byles, Chief Executive of Partnerships for Schools, said:

"We congratulate Nottingham City on nominating their selected bidder, which is good news for the progress of the BSF programme nationally and even better news for the learners and communities of Nottingham. The new and improved buildings, facilities and technology will have an enormous impact on the education and life chances of every young person in the area."

Carillion chief executive, John McDonough, said:

"We are delighted to have achieved selected bidder status on our second project under the BSF programme, which we expect to be a strong growth market for the Group, reflecting our ability to use our wide range of skills and resources to provide fully integrated solutions.

"Nottingham City Council is a leader in sustainability among local authorities and Carillion’s strength in developing sustainable solutions was an important factor in our success. Working in partnership with Nottingham City Council, we have created a vision for this project to meet the high standards of sustainable development set by the City Council. For example, for new-build schools bio-diesel combined heat and power technology will enable up to 70% of their energy requirements to be generated on site from renewable sources."