19 Nov 2001

The Prison Service has announced that the consortium, of which Interserve Plc is a member, is preferred bidder for the new £213 million prison project at Ashford, Middlesex.  Other members of the consortium are Sodexho Alliance SA and the Royal Bank Project Investments Limited.  The operator of the prison will be UK Detention Services Limited.

Ashford will be a 450 place Category B prison for remand, unsentenced and sentenced women.

Interserve will, in addition to taking an equity stake, provide design, construction and engineering services for the c. £43 million capital element of the project.