New Zealand Ministry of Education has chosen Future Schools Partners as the preferred bidder for a public private partnership (PPP) to build four schools.

Future Schools Partners is sponsored by Morrisons, construction by Hawkins Group, ASC Architects as the lead designer, and facilities management provided by Programmed Facility Management. The team beat out competition from the other shortlisted bidder, Investec which was sponsored by Investec, construction by Naylor Love Construction, Opus Architecture as the lead designer, and facilities management provided by Spotless Facilities.

Ministry Education Infrastructure Service head, Kim Shannon, says the land and buildings will be owned by the Ministry and all educational services will be the responsibility of school principals and boards of trustees. Ms Shannon stated:

"We have been working closely with the Establishment Boards of Trustees of all four schools over the last six months, and they have had considerable input to the future shapes of their schools."

Three of the schools will be new, Ormiston Junior College (Auckland), Aranui Community Campus and Rolleston Secondary School (both in Greater Christchurch). One replaces an existing school which will be built in a new location, Wakatipu High School (Queenstown).

The project will be developed on a design, build, financing, and maintenance (DBFM) basis for a period of 25 years from the opening of the final school.

The total project investment is estimated at NZ$200 million (US$148.2 million).

The three new schools are scheduled to open in 2017 and Wakatipu High School is due to open at the beginning of 2018.