Balfour Beatty has been appointed to extend the Midland Metro through Birmingham's city centre.

The project involves delivering a 1.4 kilometre extension linking Birmingham’s two major rail stations, delivering more than 3.5 million passengers a year to the city's retail quarter for Centro, the region's transport authority.

By teaming its in-house professional services division, Parsons Brinckerhoff, with its civil engineering and rail expertise, Balfour Beatty is responsible for designing, constructing, testing and commissioning the new £18.6 million tramway. Aligning its international capability in metro design with its regional knowledge has enabled Balfour Beatty to offer a competitive, best value solution.

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In addition to new tram infrastructure, the project involves substantial improvements to the street scene and public realm including natural stone paving, street furniture, lighting and landscaping. Following completion of detailed design and advanced works, construction starts in earnest this month with an operational service introduced by 2015.

Centro's Chief Executive Geoff Inskip said: "This is a prestigious project in the heart of Birmingham which demands a construction partner of the calibre of Balfour Beatty.

"We worked with Balfour Beatty last year when they built the Metro bridge for us over Great Charles Street. That was a clear demonstration of their proven track record in delivering projects on budget and on time."

As part of its commitment to supporting the communities within which it works, Balfour Beatty has joined forces with the Employment Access Team (EAT) which connects jobseekers in the Birmingham area with employment, education and training opportunities.

During the scheme Balfour Beatty will provide up to 1000 weeks of employment for local people and has formalised agreements with its supply chain to achieve local recruitment levels of 75 per cent.

(CD)