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Balfour Beatty wins major road contracts

Balfour Beatty, the international engineering, construction, services and investment Group, has won two major road contracts, totalling approximately £300 million.

Balfour Beatty, in joint venture with Mott MacDonald, has been re-appointed as the service provider for the Highways Agency under the Area 4 contract in Kent and Sussex. The five-year contract for maintenance and improvement services is worth approximately £172 million to the joint venture and covers 126 kilometres of motorway, 324 kilometres of trunk roads, two tunnels and 850 structures across Kent, Surrey, East and West Sussex. The new contract will commence on 1 October 2009. After the initial five-year period, there is the option to extend the contract for a further two years.

Balfour Beatty has been awarded the Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) contract for the £127 million Norwich Northern Distributor Road (NDR) by Norfolk County Council. Norwich NDR is a new road which will distribute traffic more effectively around the northern side of the city. The contract will be delivered by Birse Civils, a division of Balfour Beatty Regional Civil Engineering. Construction is expected to start in 2012 and will take three years to complete, following the development of the detailed design and completion of the statutory processes.

Balfour Beatty Chief Executive, Ian Tyler, said:

“Our activity levels in the UK roads sector are at an all-time high. We are delighted to have been re-appointed by the Highways Agency to deliver network services in Kent and Sussex. We are equally delighted to have been selected to work with Norfolk County Council and look forward to delivering another successful ECI scheme.”

Media/Analyst enquiries:
Duncan Murray
Tel: 020 7216 6865
www.balfourbeatty.com

Notes to Editors:

1. Balfour Beatty is a world-class, engineering, construction, services and investment business, well-positioned in infrastructure markets which offer significant long-term growth. We work in partnership with sophisticated customers who value the highest levels of quality, safety and technical expertise. Our skills are applied in appropriate combinations to meet individual customer need. Balfour Beatty’s financial position, with significant net cash and with strong operating cash flows, offers continuing flexibility to add additional capacity and expertise to the business mix and to make appropriate investments in PPP and other long-term growth opportunities.
   
2. Balfour Beatty is currently working on a number of major road schemes:
   • M74 completion project, as part of the Interlink joint venture;
   • A3 bottleneck alleviation at Hindhead and the Devil’s Punchbowl;
   • A421 between the M1 and Bedford;
   • A46 Newark to Widmerpool project;
   • A1(M) between Bramham and Wetherby in Yorkshire.
   
   The widening of the M1 between Junctions 6a and 10 was completed at the end of 2008.
   
   Balfour Beatty owns and operates four PFI road schemes. These are the M1/A1 Link in Yorkshire, the A30/A35 in Devon and Dorset, the A50 in Derbyshire and the M77/Glasgow Southern Orbital in Scotland.
   
   The Group is a leading provider of highways maintenance and asset management with a wide range of contracts for the Highways Agency and local authorities.