Balfour Beatty Living Places appointed to deliver Manchester City Council’s gritting service

Balfour Beatty Living Places has been appointed to deliver Manchester City Council’s gritting service following the news that Carillion would no longer be able to provide the essential service.

Balfour Beatty Living Places has taken over the service at short notice, contracted until the end of the winter maintenance season in April, after which the Council will review its plans for the future.

Steve Helliwell, Balfour Beatty Living Places Managing Director, said: “Throughout the winter period, Balfour Beatty Living Places undertakes essential winter maintenance activities for local authorities across the UK. We have a robust fleet of gritting vehicles, equipped with the latest tracking and route planning technology, and our gritting teams are on standby 24/7. We are delighted to extend this service provision to Manchester City Council and look forward to delivering extensive benefits to the Council and local community for the remainder of the winter period.”

Councillor Angeliki Stogia, Manchester City Council’s Executive Member for Environment and Skills, said: “Carillion have gritted our roads for many years, but the uncertainty since the announcement has meant the Council needed to work quickly to look at what we could do to replace them.”

“Gritting our roads is absolutely vital to make sure all of our road users are safe and to ensure the city keeps moving. Balfour Beatty Living Places has worked positively with us to quickly set up the replacement service from scratch and is now ready if needed.”

“I want to thank all of the hard-working individuals who have turned things around so quickly to ensure continuity of the service.”