Galliford Try PLC and HICL Infrastructure have reached financial close on the project to design, build, finance and maintain new educational facilities and provide services for batch 2 of the Priority School Building Programme (PSBP) in the North East of England.

The contract, agreed with the Education Funding Agency, will see Galliford handle the construction of the schools being built in the North East of England under the programme, along with the ongoing maintenance of the schools for 25 years.

The project, which has a capital value of £103 million, reached Financial Close on 10 March 2015 and, once constructed, will comprise six new-build secondary schools and six new-build primary schools.

The PSBP north east private finance batch comprises of 12 schools including 2 first schools - Hetton School in Sunderland and Mandale Mill Primary School in Stockton on Tees. The new facilities are scheduled to be operational by 2016.

The educational facilities will be delivered using the private finance model to provide twelve new build primary and secondary schools in the North East of England. The schools involved in this second batch are:

• Mandale Mill Primary School
• Longbenton Community College
• Front Street Community Primary School
• Lingey House Primary School
• Roman Road Primary School
• Seaham School of Technology
• Bedlingtonshire Community High School
• The Duchess's Community High School
• Laurence Jackson School
• Hylton Castle Primary School
• Hetton School
• Shiney Row Primary School

Hard FM services will be provided by a subsidiary of Galliford Try over a 25-year period under a concession contract, as well as lifecycle replacement for the buildings' fabric and services and certain furniture, fittings and equipment.

Galliford Try PLC has also rached a deal with Flintshire Council on the Holywell Learning Campus in North Wales. The Holywell contract will see Galliford handle the construction of a single storey primary school under the Welsh Government's 21st Century Schools programme. That contract is worth GBP26 million.

Greg Fitzgerald, Galliford's executive chairman, stated:

"It is tremendous news for our business to have reached financial close on these two significant education contracts. Our ability to conclude the contract with the EFA successfully demonstrates the strength of our Investments business in offering innovative solutions to unlock projects, while the Holywell contract is proof of our excellent construction offering in education and our growing prominence in the North Wales market."