Council misses promised BSF deadline

The transformation of secondary eduction in Rochdale, under the £200 million Rochdale Building Schools for the Future programme, has moved a step back after Rochdale Borough Council pushed back the announcement of a preferred bidder from the promised mid July date to late August.

Two contractors, Carillion and Galliford Try, have been shortlisted for the work, which will see the authority’s secondary schools transformed over six years. Enquiries via the Council 'communications' team, requesting confirmation of the preferred bidder after the promised initial deadline, were met with a terse reply: "The preferred bidder will only be made public after a meeting of the council’s cabinet. It is likely that this meeting will take place on the 21 August."

The BSF programme will see the creation of four new PFI schools together with the refurbishment/remodelling of the remainder of the borough’s existing secondary and special schools.