Leading house builder donates hundreds of defibrillators to help Covid-19 fightback

Barratt Developments Plc is this week donating 400 defibrillators from its sites across the UK to help in the fight against coronavirus.

The company is donating the defibrillators, usually used on its construction sites, to St John Ambulance.

Amongst the contribution are 14 defibrillators from Northampton-based Barratt and David Wilson Homes South Midlands’ developments across Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire, which have been safely hand-delivered to the health and first aid charity.

St John Ambulance is now on the frontline supporting people and communities through coronavirus, helping to take the strain from the NHS. It has started a nationwide appeal – called Take the Strain – to source desperately needed equipment to help it in the vital role it is playing, including 1,000 defibrillators.

Responding to the call for help, the country’s biggest housebuilder has committed to donating the defibrillators from all its sites – an estimated 400 worth more than £300,000. Teams from Barratt are urgently 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.

As part of its response to support the fight against coronavirus, Barratt Developments has also donated £100,000 to the NHS Charities Together appeal. NHS Charities Together supports 250 NHS charities across the UK collectively, giving money every day to the NHS so that people can stay well for longer and get better faster. It also plays a key role in mobilising volunteers to support NHS staff and support mental health, community health and ambulance trusts.

These moves follow an earlier initiative last week from the housebuilder to donate personal protective items, including thousands of high quality FFP3 face masks, gloves and hand sanitiser, to local NHS hospitals and social care services across the country.

Barratt Developments has long been committed to supporting and developing local communities and is doing all it can to join other businesses and organisations coming together to offer practical help during the current crisis.

David Thomas, chief executive of Barratt Developments, 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. 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.