Financial Close on Aberdeen Waste Water Project

BICC PLC
5 May 2000

£80 MILLION ABERDEEN WASTE WATER PROJECT REACHES FINANCIAL CLOSE
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Balfour Beatty Secures its Eighth PFI Concession
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Balfour Beatty, the international engineering, construction and services
group, announces today that financial close has been reached for the £80
million Aberdeen Waste Water project under the UK government's Private Finance
Initiative.  Balfour Beatty's consortium partners in the concession company
(Aberdeen Environmental Services Ltd) are Kelda Group and Tyco Tech Limited.

The consortium will finance, design, build, operate and maintain four waste
water treatment plants to serve 250,000 customers in Aberdeen, Stonehaven,
Peterhead and Fraserburgh in the north of Scotland under a 30-year concession.

The design and construction of the plants, scheduled for completion in autumn
2001, will be carried out by a joint venture of Balfour Beatty Construction
and Earth Tech in a construction contract valued at £33 million.

Commenting today, Balfour Beatty Chief Executive, Mike Welton, said: 'I am
delighted to add a further concession to our already strong portfolio of PFI
projects.  This portfolio is an increasingly important part of Balfour
Beatty's £2.5 billion business.  The equity investment and service contracts
involved represent significant embedded value for the Group.'

Balfour Beatty was one of the first and is one of the most successful entrants
into the UK market for privately financed infrastructure projects.


Enquiries to:
Tim Sharp
Balfour Beatty Communications
Tel: [phone]


Notes to Editors
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1.   Balfour Beatty has three road concessions - the A1/M1 Link in Yorkshire,
the A50 in Derbyshire and the A30/A35 in Devon and Dorset.  The equity
investment in this sector is £16 million, the construction value was £380
million with associated service contracts of approaching £100 million.

2.   In the healthcare sector, Balfour Beatty has two projects - the Edinburgh
Royal Infirmary and the North Durham Hospital.  The total construction value
of these two projects is £279 million, with more than £330 million accruing
through long-term asset management contracts.  Balfour Beatty is also part of
the consortium which has achieved preferred bidder status for the University
College London Hospital - a project with a construction value of £217 million.
Balfour Beatty's equity contribution to these three hospital projects will be
£25 million.

3.   The Group's prototype involvement in private finance came through its
25.5% interest in Barking Power Station, a project which has continued to
produce substantial profits since its opening in 1995 and which was built by a
consortium led by Balfour Beatty.

4.   In the power sector, Balfour Beatty has been, since April 1999,
responsible for the maintenance, operation and development of London
Underground's high-voltage power distribution system, as a member of the
Seeboard Powerlink joint venture.  The concession company is served by PADCo
(a joint venture with Seeboard and ABB, in which Balfour Beatty has a 25%
stake), which takes practical responsibility for the £98 million, five-year
initial capital works and the associated maintenance.  Dundee Energy
Recycling, a joint venture with Macquarie Infrastructure Group and Dundee City
Council, is in the process of commissioning a £35 million-plus waste-to-energy
plant in Dundee.

5.   In education, Balfour Beatty has preferred bidder status for the
maintenance of Stoke area schools (a contract valued at £205 million over 25
years) and is bidding or prequalifying for a number of other opportunities in
this fast-growing sector.

6.   As part of the Metronet consortium, Balfour Beatty has prequalified for
both the deep line concessions for the London Underground PPP and for the
sub-surface lines.