Following a rigorous evaluation process, the council has appointed Environments for Learning (E4L) as its Selected Bidder to start the crucial building work later this year.

E4L will now become a partner in Sandwell’s Local Education Partnership, joining forces with the council and BSF Investments Ltd.

E4L, which is made up of market leaders Interserve, Barclays Private Equity, Cambridge Education and Agilisys, was chosen from two initial bidders and will bring its expertise in construction, educational transformation, facilities management and ICT to the table.

The BSF programme will see £370 million invested in Sandwell’s secondary schools over the next few years, giving the opportunity to transform education for generations of learners, providing state of the art teaching and learning facilities and services for community use. Twenty schools in the borough are expected to benefit from the BSF scheme.

It is anticipated that E4L will begin work at the two sample sites, Rowley Regis Learning Campus and Smethwick Learning Campus this summer, with the buildings open and fully operational in 2011.

Councillor Ian Jones, Sandwell’s Cabinet Member for children and young people, said: "This is a historic day for everyone in Sandwell.

“This is part of the council’s focus to provide first class education which needs first class facilities. I am confident that E4L will exceed our expectations in bringing our vision of schools fit for the 21st century to life."

Councillor Bill Thomas, the Leader of Sandwell Council, said: "This a really exciting time for the programme. E4L has developed proposals that are both challenging and interesting, and now we are all ready to exploit this superb opportunity to create modern schools of which we can all be proud."

Bob Vince, E4L Director, said: "We are delighted to be joining forces with Sandwell Council on this once-in-a-lifetime programme.

"The partnership between the Sandwell BSF project team and E4L has gone from strength to strength during this process and I am sure it will continue to do so.

"The new and improved buildings, facilities and technology that we will be working on together will have an enormous impact on the education and the life chances of every child in Sandwell."

Tim Byles, Chief Executive of Partnerships for Schools, the government agency responsible for delivering BSF, said: "We congratulate Sandwell on naming their Selected Bidder, which is great news for the national BSF programme, and even better news for the pupils and communities of Sandwell."

Planning applications for the sample schemes will be submitted shortly and events will be held over the next few weeks for local people to see and comment on the plans.

For more information, go to www.bsf.sandwell.gov.uk