Balfour Beatty has announced a £32M takeover of Birse, the Northampton-based civil engineering contractor. Birse, which has a £150M turnover, will strengthen Balfour’s capabilities in coastal defence and rail-related civils works. Birse Civils is ‘ahead of schedule’ on its largest contract, a coastal defence scheme for Blackpool council, and has won new contracts at Wyre and Weston-super-Mare. Birse Metro works exclusively on London Underground for Tubelines and Metronet. Its board agreed the offer from Balfour Beatty, which has a UK turnover of £425M in civil engineering from minor works through to major infrastructure projects.