a Carillion-led consortium has been named as preferred bidder for a £100m PFI project at the University of Hertfordshire, as predicted in Building last month.
The consortium was up against Jarvis for the contract to build and run 1600 units of en-suite student accommodation and sports facilities.

The sports block will include a sports hall with 12 badminton courts, a 25 m swimming pool, an indoor cricket centre and a 12 m high climbing wall.

The scheme will form part of the university's new 12 ha de Havilland campus near Hatfield, which will merge its Watford and Hertford campuses.

Carillion's special projects division will build the facilites and the firm's services arm will operate them for the 30-year contract.

The consortium comprises the Royal Bank of Scotland and architects Austin-Smith:Lord and TPS Consult.

Carillion has now financially closed 16 PFI projects, 11 of which are operational.

  • Carillion has announced that its services division has signed a partnership agreement with Unison. This gives the trade union sole bargaining rights for its members, and sets out guidelines for negotiation, consultation and the information sharing between Carillion and the union.