Five bidders have reached the first round of the £1bn Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme in Birmingham.

The five consortiums are: Galliford Try (E-Pact), Land Securities Trillium, Catalyst Education, Environments for Learning (E4L) and Balfour Beatty Capital (Transform Schools).

Each of the bidders will now be invited for interviews before they are whittled down to a shortlist of three.

The scheme’s vast size is reflected in the size of each team. Land Securities is working with four contractors, including, Kier and Willmott Dixon, as well as a panel of architects including Building Design Partnership and Birmingham firm Seymour Harris.

Birmingham BSF will be delivered over six phases. Phase one is to start in 2009.

The Environment for Learning consortium reached financial close on the £220m Leeds BSF scheme earlier this month. The team includes Interserve, Mott MacDonald and architect Watkins Gray.