Balfour Beatty confirms fire station PPP

Construction giant Balfour Beatty has been appointed as preferred bidder for a public-private partnership contract worth £47m with North West Fire & Rescue Services.

The contract is to upgrade 16 fire stations in Cumbria, Lancashire and Merseyside. The 25-year concession will involve the design, construction, funding and provision of facilities management for community fire stations, of which seven are in Merseyside, five in Cumbria, and four in Lancashire.

The stations will be constructed on a mixture of new and existing sites in a range of locations from rural stations with retained crews, to busy inner-city stations with full-time crews. Construction of eight of the fire stations will begin in late 2010 with all construction work completed by 2013.

Balfour Beatty will invest equity of approximately £5m into the 25-year wholly owned concession.