New Lease of Life for Arriva Speke

A £3.9million investment, which has seen the complete rebuild of Arriva Merseyside’s Speke garage, has been officially unveiled by Norman Baker MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport.

The recently completed work includes improved conditions for the 450 staff based at the garage, new vehicle maintenance facilities and enhanced on-site traffic flow at the Shaw Road site following an 18 month programme of construction work.

Norman Baker MP, joined representatives from Arriva, local Councillors, dignitaries and special guests to unveil a plaque to commemorate the occasion. A tour of the state-of the-art facilities followed.

Phil Stone, regional managing director for Arriva North West and Wales, said: “We are delighted to have given our Speke garage a new lease of life. The rebuild represents a significant investment that has enabled us to create a clean, safe and modern working environment that we can all be proud of for many years to come.

“We are privileged and extremely pleased that Norman Baker MP was able to attend the official opening and have the opportunity to see the excellent facilities we have built here at Speke.”

Norman Baker MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport said: ”I’m delighted to open this state-of-the-art facility, which will provide improved facilities and working conditions for Arriva staff in Speke.

“I’m particularly pleased that the new bus garage has been built without any disruption to passengers – this is an impressive feat and one that I’m sure passengers will have appreciated.

“We want to see more people enjoying high quality bus travel throughout the UK and have recently approved £4.2m for Merseyside through the Better Bus Area Fund to deliver better journeys for bus passengers in the area.”

The work, carried out by Liverpool-based Nobles Construction, involved the phased demolition of a parking area, workshop, traffic office and chassis wash buildings as the replacement facilities were completed on the existing site. The garage remained fully operational during the rebuild, with the 146 buses operating from 2 temporary car parks alongside the site. This is credit to both the contractors and all employees based at the site.

The construction work included a main depot, which incorporates vehicle maintenance pits and engineering offices and stores, two-storey office accommodation for administrative and bus driver facilities, fuelling, a bus wash and chassis wash facilities and new external hard standing and drainage for bus parking.