THE firm which has overseen the £90m building of two new state-of-the-art schools has gone into administration, raising fears that outstanding work may not be completed.

Heavily indebted outsourcing form Interserve, which has delivered two new-build secondary schools in Caldicot and Monmouth over the last two years, went into administration on Friday (March 15).

The firm’s Caldicot contract has finished, although some of the work was not completed to Monmouthshire County Council standards, while demolition work on old school buildings at Monmouth is only half completed.

A council spokesman said that, despite the firm going into administration, plans were being drawn up to ensure outstanding work at the schools is completed.

“We are already working on contingency plans that would result in the council assuming responsibility for the demolition and the resolution of any outstanding defects,” he said.

“The council is holding retention funds on both projects which would enable us to step in with limited financial consequences.”

Interserve holds contracts for projects across the UK, but failed to secure investors’ backing following a crunch meeting last week.

Both school projects have been hit by problems such as the discovery of asbestos, with the contractor overspending by more than £1m by January.