Developer provides defibrillators to help in fight against virus

House builder Barratt Developments Yorkshire East and West is donating over 40 defibrillators from its sites across the region to help the fight against Coronavirus.

Donations are taking place on a national scale too, with over 400 defibrillators due to be donated to charity St John’s Ambulance.

This is in response to the charity’s appeal – called Take the Strain – to source desperately needed equipment to take some of the burden off the NHS.

Barratt says it has committed to donating the defibrillators either from new or from its sites – an estimated 400 worth more than £300,000.

Teams from Barratt are gathering up the defibrillators from their sites across the country so they can get them to where they are needed in the next few days.

The company has also donated £100,000 to the NHS Charities Together appeal.

It follows an earlier initiative last week from the house builder to donate personal protective items, including thousands of high quality FFP3 face masks, gloves and hand sanitiser, to NHS hospitals and social care services across the country.

Daniel Smith, managing director at Barratt Developments Yorkshire East, said: “We are pleased to be able to donate this equipment where it is urgently needed – to help St John Ambulance, who are on the frontline, supporting the NHS and helping to save lives.”

Ian Ruthven, managing director at Barratt Developments Yorkshire West, said: “We’re always keen to help the local community thrive, especially in times of such hardship like this.

“We are seeing an amazing collective effort by businesses, communities and individuals in the fight against Coronavirus and we want to play our part in that.”

Barratt Developments took the decision to temporarily close all of its offices and construction sites two weeks ago in order to protect customers, employees and the public.