Blue 3, a consortium comprising Kier, Reliance and Calderpeel Carden Croft as co-investors, has been named preferred bidder to design, build and maintain four new community fire stations and a life skills centre in Gloucestershire on behalf of Gloucestershire County Council.

The government is providing £40 million funding under the private finance initiative and Blue 3's contract will run for 25 years. Kier is the majority investor with a 70 per cent stake.

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The fire stations will be built by Kier Moss; stations at Churchdown and Tuffley replace the current Gloucester fire station and in Cheltenham, a new station will be built at Uckington while the current station in Keynsham Road will be demolished and rebuilt at that location. These new fire stations have been located to improve average response times to emergency calls.

The life skills centre will be based at Tuffley and will be used to provide training on safety issues to community groups within the county as well as teaching young people about social responsibility and respect.

Kier Group Chief Executive Paul Sheffield commented: "We are delighted to have been chosen to take this community project forward and our Cheltenham-based office is looking forward to delivering these much-needed facilities to benefit the people of Gloucestershire."

(CD/NS)