Contractor confirmed as preferred bidder for contract to upgrade 16 fire stations

Balfour Beatty has been appointed preferred bidder for a 拢47m contract to upgrade 16 fire stations for the North West Fire and Rescue Service.

If it wins the 25-year PPP contract, Balfour Beatty Fire and Rescue will invest 拢5m of equity in the project. The concession, which Balfour claimed was the UK fire service's biggest public private partnership project to date, will involve the design, construction, funding and provision of facilities management for the community fire stations, of which seven are in Merseyside, five in Cumbria, and four in Lancashire.

Construction of eight of the fire stations will begin in late 2010 with all construction work completed by 2013.

Balfour Beatty chief executive, Ian Tyler, said he was 鈥渄elighted鈥� at the award. 鈥淲e look forward to working with Cumbria County Council, Lancashire Combined Fire and Rescue Authority and Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority.鈥�

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