Balfour Beatty sells 16 North West community fire stations
BBGI Global Infrastructure acquired three asset portfolios from the company’s infrastructure investments division, including North West Fire & Rescue.
Also included in the deal were Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, a roadway with significant river crossings, and Woodland View Hospital, a 206-bed mental health facility. Both of those assets are based in Scotland.
Balfour Beatty said that final funder clearance of the deal was expected imminently. The international infrastructure group declined to share an exact sale price, but said: “The disposal proceeds are in excess of the Directors’ valuation as of 31 December 2020.”
North West Fire & Rescue is made up of seven stations in Merseyside, five in Cumbria and four in Lancashire. Originally a £48m project, the stations were all new builds with meeting rooms, lecture rooms and gyms. The scheme completed in 2013. Balfour Beatty was under contract to maintain the community fire stations for 25 years, at which point they would be handed back to the relevant authorities in “as new” condition.
Three of the Merseyside stations – Formby, Newton-le-Willows and Birkenhead – are shared with the North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust.
The exact make-up of North West Fire & Rescue is as follows:
Cumbria
- Carlisle East
- Carlisle West
- Glenridding in Patterdale
- Kemplay Bank in Penrith
- Workington
Lancashire
- Blackburn
- Burnley
- Chorley
- Fleetwood
Merseyside
- Belle Vale
- Birkenhead
- Bootle and Netherton
- Formby
- Kirkdale
- Newton-le-Willows
- Southport
