Co-op lends school contractors £33m

THE Co-operative Bank has provided a £33m loan to finance the major expansion and upgrade of a college near St Helens on Merseyside.

Rainford High Technology College will have 150,000 sq ft of new and refurbished buildings once the work is completed.

The loan was provided to a consortium called Environments for Learning, formed by construction company Interserve and Barclays European Infrastructure Fund, and was made under the St Helens Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.

Interserve will build and then maintain new and accommodation for the teaching of subjects such as English, maths, science, languages, history and geography. It is also carrying out work at De La Salle school which will have places for 1,215 pupils from ages 11-16.

Andrew Sykes, senior manager of the PFI and project finance team of The Co-operative Bank, said: “We’re delighted to have provided project funding for this local education development which underlines the Bank’s commitment to supporting social infrastructure projects in the North West.”