Construction contract signed for new prison in Lancashire, while Serco stays at Doncaster.
The Ministry of Justice has signed a contract with a major construction company to begin enabling works on the construction of a brand new 1,700-place men’s category C jail.
Laing O’Rourke secured the deal. Although neither the company nor the MoJ would say how much the contract was worth, Construction Enquirer reported that the whole jail would cost £400 million.
The prison, which was planned under the last Conservative government, is to be built alongside HMP Garth and HMP Wymott in Lancashire. It is due to open in 2031. The scheme, presently known as HMP Garth 2, will provide around 74,500 square metres of accommodation across seven four-storey house blocks, each holding about 245 prisoners. Initial works will involve demolition of existing buildings and structures on the land, and associated engineering. The site preparation programme will also require relocation of an existing energy centre and bowling club.
Further enabling phases will deliver a replacement bowling green and clubhouse, new boiler house, and prison car park before construction of the main prison buildings gets underway in phase four.
The announcement came as the Government said a further £110 million will be redirected from the existing MoJ budget to accelerate delivery of prison capacity and secure land for future jails in England and Wales. Some of the additional funding will be used to convert existing areas inside prisons, including former offices, laundries, and storage space, into additional cells, which is part of Labour’s plan to add 14,000 prison spaces by 2031.
The new Lancashire prison will be built to the same design as Millsike and other new prisons with cross shaped houseblocks. This design has often been criticised in monitoring reports on these new builds, most recently at Millsike by its Independent Monitoring Board
Meanwhile, private sector company Serco has been awarded a two-year extension to continue to run HMP Doncaster. The contract, which is expected to be worth £76 million, will be extended from the end of the existing agreement in October 2026.
HMP Doncaster is a category B reception and resettlement prison, accommodating young adult (18–25) and adult male prisoners. It has an operational capacity of 1,145 men and directly employs around 495 staff.
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