Press Release

Balfour Beatty, the international infrastructure group, today welcomed Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to the site of the Manchester Engineering Campus Development (MECD).

The Duke and Duchess visited The University of Manchester campus to mark the start of construction of MECD which will transform the way in which the University educates future engineers. The visit followed on from their earlier visit to the University’s National Graphene Institute, where they had the opportunity to view the world’s first graphene car.

Balfour Beatty have recently started on site with advanced works and are also developing the building’s design, programme and delivery strategy as construction partner for the University’s flagship £350 million engineering campus. MECD will form part of the University’s Capital Programme to create a world-leading teaching, learning and research campus to develop the engineers and innovators of tomorrow.

MECD, procured under the University’s Construction Partnering Framework, is one of the largest single construction projects ever undertaken by a higher education institution in the UK.

Mark Pearson, Balfour Beatty Project Director, who escorted the Duke and Duchess around the project said: “It was an honour to welcome the Royal couple to our site and for recognition to be given to this great investment in science and engineering. We have a number of significant and exciting infrastructure projects in the UK and the creation of MECD contributes to the development of talent needed to deliver the pipeline of projects.”

ENDS

Media enquiries to:

Vivienne Dunn

Balfour Beatty

t:   +44 (0) 207 963 2150

e:  Vivienne.Dunn@balfourbeatty.com

For all non-media related enquiries please contact +44 (0)20 7216 6800 or info@balfourbeatty.com

Notes to editors:

• Balfour Beatty (www.balfourbeatty.com) is a leading international infrastructure group. With 34,000 employees, we provide innovative and efficient infrastructure that underpins our daily lives, supports communities and enables economic growth. We finance, develop, build and maintain complex infrastructure such as transportation, power and utility systems, social and commercial buildings.

• Our main geographies are the UK, US, Middle East and South East Asia. Over the last 100 years we have created iconic buildings and infrastructure all over the world including the London Olympics’ Aquatic Centre, Hong Kong’s first Zero Carbon building, the world’s biggest shopping mall in Dubai, the National Museum of the Marine Corps in the US and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.

• The University of Manchester, a member of the prestigious Russell Group of British universities, is the largest and most popular university in the UK. It has 20 academic schools and hundreds of specialist research groups undertaking pioneering multi-disciplinary teaching and research of worldwide significance. The University is one of the country's major research institutions, rated fifth in the UK in terms of 'research power' (REF 2014), and has had no fewer than 25 Nobel laureates either work or study there. The University had an annual income of £886 million in 2013/14. www.manchester.ac.uk.

• The University's Campus Masterplan will create some of the world's most modern facilities for staff, students and visitors. Projects include the Manchester Engineering Campus Development; the £61m National Graphene Institute; the Manchester Cancer Research Centre, the Whitworth and a proposed student residential development in Fallowfield. The Manchester Engineering Campus Development will be the home of engineering for the University of Manchester’s Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences.