YORK-BASED Portakabin Group has been announced as the preferred bidder for a £28 million contract to build seven new schools in Surrey and Kent.

The Huntington headquartered firm has put forward a bid to build the infant and primary schools for the Department of Education using its Yorkon off-site construction process.

The projects, which have been identified by the Education Funding Agency (EFA) for delivery under the Priority School Building Programme (PSBP), will be completed by winter 2017.

Simon Ambler, director of the Portakabin Group, said: "This is another milestone for the Portakabin Group and for the off-site sector.

"We are delighted to be able to demonstrate our ability to deliver high quality, affordable school buildings on time, on budget and to faster programmes to the benefit of children’s education.

"The opportunity for off-site construction to help transform the learning environment for thousands of pupils and their teachers under the Priority School Building Programme is immense.

"Off-site construction gives schools the benefits of considerable savings on programme because the sub and super structures are delivered simultaneously; it is safer because work off site is maximised, and the approach reduces disruption – which are all clear advantages when redeveloping fully operational school sites."

Three of the seven projects identified in the Surrey and Kent batch are now in the design stages.

The first to start on site will be Pyrford Church of England Primary School in Woking. A £5 million 2FE primary school with two ‘bulge’ classrooms will be constructed to accommodate 480 children from the start of the 2016/17 academic year. It will replace the existing single-storey school which will then be demolished.

Portakabin's preferred bidder status comes a month after it was awarded the UK’s largest ever off-site contract in the education sector after winning a £44 million deal to build a new campus in the capital.

The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham awarded the contract to the group to deliver Riverside Schools, a 23,000sq metre project made up of three school campuses.

As the main contractor, Portakabin, which employs 1,600 people in the UK, Ireland, France, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and Holland, will bring construction to its home city, manufacturing the project through its Yorkon service.