Laing O'Rourke Wins £300 million Schools Contract

A consortium led by Laing O'Rourke won a £300million contract to build nine schools in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.The decision to award the contract to the BP4L consortium Barnsley Partnership for Learning) was made yesterday.

Laing O'Rourke and Bam were originally shortlisted in July 2007 alongside Skanska, but the Swedish contractor later dropped out.The first BSF schools in Barnsley were originally due to be open in September 2009, but the completion date is likely to be later following the delays to the construction programme.

The BP4L team includes architects BDP, Atkins, Watson Batty and Allford Hall Monaghan Morris.