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TOWERING inferno: Flames leap 40ft into the air above the luxury apartment and retail development on Burnage Lane. Around 500 neighbours came out of their homes to watch the drama unfold.
TOWERING inferno: Flames leap 40ft into the air above the luxury apartment and retail development on Burnage Lane. Around 500 neighbours came out of their homes to watch the drama unfold.

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Jobs go up in smoke

Susannah Wright
27/ 3/2008

ARSONISTS could be behind a blaze that caused £2.5 million worth of damage and the loss of nearly 40 jobs.

Flames from the devastating fire reached 40ft into the air on a building site where a luxury flat and shopping development was being created in Burnage.

Alan Hegarty, of Bennett Property which is behind the scheme, said he has been forced to lay off 37 staff working on the building as a result.

Fire and police inspectors are still deciding whether the fire that raged through the night of Sunday, March 23 was started deliberately.

Mr Hegarty said: "This has been just devastating. I’ve had the horrible task of having to tell 37 guys that they are out of work.

"A lot of them are from round here so it’s awful for them and their families.

"We’ve so far spent somewhere between £1.5 million and £2.5 million - but the real loser in all this is Burnage. The flats would have been really high specification and the people living there would have brought in a lot of money to shops and other businesses in the local area."

Work began on the building in September and was due to be completed in September this year.

The developers had planned a four-storey development with 9,200 square feet of retail space on the ground floor and 40 luxury flats above. Mr Hegarty said work would have to begin again from scratch, but he remains hopeful that some work can be resumed on the site within a month and the project can still be completed by next spring.

Around 50 firefighters battled the blaze on the site at the corner of Burnage Lane and Lane End Road. It is believed to have started in a sub-station on the building site at around 10pm. Police are appealing for witnesses.

It took firefighters, using hose reel jets and two aerial platforms, more than two hours to bring it under control.

Emergency operators received 104 calls from members of the public reporting the blaze.


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Most recent 2 of 2 user comments

   I worked on this site for MONTHS,& got to know some of the local people really well(I even went to Tesco,s staff christmas party!)then some scumbag does this! I hope that the development can be saved,not just for my sake,nut for the nice people of Burnage-you deserve better!
Dave a, Stockport
1/04/2008 at 14:32
   Its not just Mr Heggarty,s staff that lose their jobs, there were lots of sub contractors as well! My son had worked on these flats,for MONTHS,travelling from Bolton every day. He got to know the local people well,& really looked forward to work every day & was even invited to TESCO,S christmas party(just shows what the people of Burnage are like, eh?)My son is really upset about the amount of work he & his colleages had put into this site,& then just destroyed overnight by some scumbag!Hope Mr heggarty can overcome this, & start again!
Dave a, Stockport
1/04/2008 at 14:28
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