The government intends to complete the procurement process for a typical secondary school in just over a year 鈥� roughly half the time needed for a typical hospital scheme.

Speaking at 好色先生TV鈥檚 鈥淯nderstanding the Education Sector鈥� conference this week, John Pilkington, Amey Ventures鈥� managing director, said a project should move from a notice in the Official Journal to financial close with a preferred bidder within 13 months.

The first projects in the 15-year Schools for the Future programme appeared in the OJ in September.

Pilkington has completed a secondment with Partnerships for Schools, the quango running the Schools for the Future programme.

He said: 鈥淲hat people haven鈥檛 grasped is the sheer scale of what is happening.鈥� He believes 140 schools a year will be rebuilt and a further 95 refurbished.

Bid costs for each scheme could be up to 拢1m for each Local Education Partnership, the public鈥損rivate framework that acts as a client for schemes.