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Balfour Beatty Appoints David Wathen President and Chief Executive Officer Responsible For Its North American Operations

Mr Wathen has a broadly-based, general business management background, having spent the longest part of his career to date in increasingly senior positions in three of the US’s best managed and most successful companies – including 12 years at GE, six years at Emerson Electric and two years as President of a division of Allied Signal. Most recently he was Senior Vice President and Group Executive in the Eaton Corporation and a Partner and Principal in a Detroit-based private equity fund. His appointment is effective from 1 January 2003.

Commenting on the appointment today, Balfour Beatty Chief Executive, Mike Welton, said: “We are delighted to welcome Dave Wathen to the Balfour Beatty Group. We now have $1 billion, representing 20%, of our total business in the US, in four separate business streams. The further development of these businesses and appropriate strategies for our overall growth in the US requires senior in-country, general management expertise. I am confident that we can advance our progress in the US under Dave Wathen’s leadership.”

ENDS

Enquiries to:
Tim Sharp
Tel: +44 (0)20 7216 6884

Notes to Editors

Balfour Beatty operates in the US through four business operations:

Balfour Beatty Construction Inc (BBCI) is a major civil and specialist engineering contractor with annual sales of $500 million and an order book of approaching $1 billion. BBCI’s business serves, almost exclusively, the public sector, particularly State Departments of Transport, most notably in California, Texas and selected states in the Eastern United States. Amongst the company’s major project wins in 2002 have been the $1.5 billion SH 130 toll road in Texas and a $150 million waste water tunnel in Providence, Rhode Island. There continue to be significant opportunities in BBCI’s markets.

Balfour Beatty Rail Inc (BBRI) is a leading supplier of fixed infrastructure engineering and services to the US rail industry, including the class one freight railroads and the fast-developing mass transit markets. Its annual sales are approximately $160 million. Its indigenous expertise covers trackwork, signalling and maintenance. Additionally, it can call on the Balfour Beatty Group’s extensive experience in rail electrification, major rail projects, manufacturing and the operation of large-scale plant and equipment. In 2002, it secured the contract for a new commuter line at Greenbush on Boston’s South Shore, worth over $200 million, the first heavy freight railroad maintenance contract ever let in the US at Alameda in Southern California and has recently been awarded the trackwork contract for the new rail system being constructed under the site previously occupied by the World Trade Centre in New York. Expenditure on rail in the US is growing and is forecast to accelerate.

Heery International (Heery) is a leading engineering, architectural and project/programme management company, with 2002 revenues of $230 million and an order book of approaching $250 million. Heery addresses both the public and private sector markets, with long-term business particularly for major education sector schemes and for Blue Chip corporations including GlaxoSmithKline, Coca Cola, Home Depot and MBNA.

Andover Controls (Andover) is a designer, manufacturer and installer of building management control and security systems for the US, UK and European markets. With annual sales of $175 million, the business addresses the new build, refurbishment and upgrade markets. Its customers include Merck, AT & T and Johnson & Johnson.