Two public-private consortiums have been shortlisted to construct four schools in New Zealand worth more than $200 million in total, including the new Wakatipu High School.
Ministry of Education spokeswoman Kim Shannon said along with the new high school, to be constructed on land at Remarkables Park, the successful tenderer would build Aranui Community and Rolleston Secondary schools in Christchurch and a school in Auckland, yet to be announced.
The Frankton school, announced by the ministry in 2012, will cater for about 1500 pupils and is expected to open in 2018.
All the schools will be built using a public-private partnership procurement model.
Under such a partnership, design, construction and financing is managed by a private contractor.
The Ministry of Education pays the private partner quarterly and the payment is reduced if the school facilities do not meet the standards specified in the contract, effectively providing a 25-year guarantee on the buildings, unlike schools procured under traditional procurement models.
The provision of education remains the responsibility of the principal and board of trustees, while the government retains ownership of the land and buildings.
The contract includes property maintenance for 25 years.
In other schools, the school is responsible for property maintenance.
The first PPP school was Hobsonville Point primary and secondary schools and based on ''lessons learnt'' the ministry estimated the second partnership would save 2% to 8% over the 25 years.
Ms Shannon said the two consortiums were Investec, sponsored by Invested with construction by Naylor Love, Opus Architecture as the lead designer and facilities management by Spotless Facilities; and Future Schools, sponsored by Morrisons, construction by Hawkins Group, ASC Architects as the lead designer and facilities management provided by Programmed Facility Management.
Both would now proceed to the next stage of the tendering process.
Final bids were to be submitted in October.
