The Equitix consortium, which includes Galliford Try, has reached financial close on the £600m Cambridgeshire Building Schools for the Future programme

The programme will begin with the rebuilding of the £26m Neale-Wade College in the village of March.

Last week Kier announced that it had finalised a £44.2m agreement to build two other colleges for Equitix in Cambridgeshire.

The deal follows reports that the coalition government will review all BSF schemes that have not reached preferred bidder stage.

Meanwhile, the East Thames Development Consortium has given Wates an £88m contract to refurbish the Ocean Estate in Hackney.

Wates Living Space will be expected to build 467 homes for £47m and refurbish a further 769 for the rest of the contract value.

The consortium includes housing associations East Thames Group, and Spitalfields Housing Association; Wates will work with Bellway Homes and developer First Base.

Simon Underwood, director of Wates Living Space, said: “We’ve already completed refurbishment works to 178 properties.”