The UK's Education Funding Agency (EFA) has announced that it has awarded the first batch of privately financed priority schools to a joint venture between Interserve and Kajima.

The project consists on a contract for the design, build, finance and maintenance of the new educational facilities and provide services for batch 1 of the PSBP programme (seven new build secondary schools) in Hertfordshire, Luton and Reading  for a 25 year term. 

The Interserve and Kajima team beat out competition from two other companies shortlisted for the project, Wates and  Morgan Sindall. 

The construction value of the Hertfordshire, Luton and Reading batch is expected to be £122 million, while the total funding required for the batch is up to £150 million. Under PF2, 90% of the funding requirement will consist of private finance raised by a central debt fund. The remaining 10% will be made up of 80% equity from the main contractor and 20% equity from the public purse.

The EFA, Interserve, Kajima and seven schools will now engage in a six-month detailed design stage and expect to reach financial close in October 2014. Construction is due to start from November 2014 through to March 2015, with planned completions due for August 2016.

It is the second major win for the joint venture of Interserve and Kajima after last week bagging the contract to build and maintain the new National Centre of excellence at Heriot-Watt Research Park in Edinburgh, Scotland.