Re Contract

Balfour Beatty PLC
03 July 2007


3 July 2007


                 BALFOUR BEATTY REACHES FINANCIAL CLOSE FOR THE
   £311 MILLION PPP PINDERFIELDS AND PONTEFRACT HOSPITALS DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
   ==========================================================================
                                        
Balfour Beatty, the international engineering, construction, services and
investment group, announces that its PPP healthcare vehicle, Consort Healthcare,
reached financial close for the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust's Pinderfields
and Pontefract Hospitals Development PPP Project on Thursday 28 June. The
project has a capital value of approximately £311 million.

The 35-year concession is central to the reconfiguration of health services in
the area. It will deliver a new acute inpatient hospital in Wakefield on the
existing Pinderfields Hospital site and a new Diagnostic and Treatment Centre in
Pontefract.

Balfour Beatty will invest some £15 million of equity in the project. Balfour
Beatty Group companies will be responsible for all of the construction, building
services and physical facilities management.

Commenting on the financial close of the project, Balfour Beatty Chief
Executive, Ian Tyler, said:

'We are delighted to be in a position to deliver the largest PPP hospital
development in Yorkshire. When complete, the project will enable the
transformation of hospital services across Wakefield and Pontefract and the
optimisation of services at Dewsbury District Hospital to achieve the Trust's
ambitions of high-quality patient care. Balfour Beatty is bringing to the task
many decades of experience in working as a key contractor in the healthcare
sector and its expertise in planning, constructing and operating other large PPP
hospitals.'

Sir Hugh Sykes, Chairman of The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said:

'This is wonderful news for everyone and we are delighted that our new hospitals
are now very much a reality. This development represents the single largest
investment in healthcare in the Wakefield district since the NHS was set up in
1948.

'Our patients will be able to experience first-class care, in first-class
facilities which have been carefully designed around the needs of patients,
visitors, carers and staff and will be modern, welcoming and accessible for
everyone.'

The concession company, Consort Healthcare (Mid Yorkshire), is a joint venture
between Balfour Beatty and the Royal Bank of Scotland. The construction work
will be carried out by Balfour Beatty Construction and Haden Young (the building
services arm of the Balfour Beatty Group). Facilities management for all estates
and facilities services (including catering, cleaning, portering, security,
linen and laundry) will be provided by Haden Building Management, another
Balfour Beatty subsidiary, under an arrangement that could yield over £400
million of long-term service revenue - the largest healthcare services contract
secured to date by the company.

It is expected that the new Pontefract Hospital will open in 2009 and that the
new Pinderfields Hospital will open in 2010, although some facilities will be
opened in advance of these dates.

Consort Healthcare is now the PPP concession company for nine major hospitals
and has a committed equity investment of £123 million in the sector.

                                      ENDS

Enquiries to:
Tim Sharp
Tel: [phone]
www.balfourbeatty.com


Notes to Editors
----------------

1.  Balfour Beatty is a leader in the UK PPP market with approximately £350 
    million committed investment in 24 operational projects and a further six
    at preferred bidder stage.

2.  Balfour Beatty's existing PPP hospital schemes are as follows:

    -  £90 million Durham Hospital (opened 2001)

    -  £220 million Edinburgh Royal Infirmary (opened 2003)

    -  £280 million University College London Hospital (Phase 1 opened 2005)

    -  £116 million Royal Blackburn Hospital (opened 2006)

    -  £553 million Birmingham New Hospitals (under construction; due to open 
       2011)

    -  £120 million Salford Hospital (preferred bidder)

    -  £60 million Tameside Hospital (preferred bidder)

    -  £152 million Fife Hospital (preferred bidder).

3.  Balfour Beatty is the construction partner to Canmore Partnership Ltd in the
    PPP concession for the new Victoria and Stobhill Hospitals in Glasgow. This
    project, which began in August 2006, involves some £180 million of design 
    and construction work and is due for completion in spring 2009. In Glasgow, 
    Balfour Beatty is also building the new mental health secure unit at 
    Stobhill and the new Beatson Institute cancer research facility at Garscube.

4.  Balfour Beatty is a world-class engineering, construction and services 
    group, well positioned in infrastructure markets which offer significant
    growth potential. Its partnerships with public and private customers 
    generate secure, long-term income. Its 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/PFI and other long-term growth
    opportunities.




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange