Interserve seals £32m prison deal
BUILDING and services group Interserve has won a £32m contract to design and build two new wings containing more than 230 cells at Forest Bank Prison in Salford.
Berkshire-based Interserve will start work immediately to build the new prisoner accommodation containing 232 cells, an extended kitchen, improved visitor reception centre and visiting area as well as education and prisoner support facilities and physical activity space at Her Majesty’s Prison Forest Bank.
Work is due to be completed by November 2009.
The work at the Category B prison, which currently has 800 cells, is being carried out for Agecroft Prison Management at the prison, which is operated by UK prison management group Kalyx.
Forest Green was built by Interserve in 1999 under a private finance initiative (PFI) contract, one of five the Reading group has built. It has also carried out refurbishment and extensions to existing prisons.
Adrian Ringrose, chief executive of Interserve, said: “It is a social reality that the UK needs more prison cells than it currently has. In meeting this need the new facilities we are building seek not only to house prisoners but also to address offending behaviour and give individuals the opportunity to change.”
Tony Leech, managing director of Kalyx, added: “We have enjoyed a long and successful partnership with Interserve and are very happy to be working with
them on this project. Their unparalleled experience of building prisons linked with our operational expertise is a powerful combination.”
Interserve, which is a member of the FTSE 250 and has £1.7bn turnover and 50,000 employees, operates in both the public and private sectors in the UK and internationally.
It offers advice, design, construction and maintenance services for buildings and infrastructure, runs the operational systems and back-office services that support them and provides a range of plant and equipment in specialist fields.
