Preferred Bidder

Balfour Beatty PLC
16 October 2001

        FOURTH PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP HOSPITAL FOR BALFOUR BEATTY



    Balfour Beatty Charterhouse Healthcare appointed preferred bidder for

                        £86 million Blackburn Hospital

Balfour Beatty, the international engineering construction and services group,
announces today that Balfour Beatty Charterhouse Healthcare has been appointed
preferred bidder for the design, construction, finance, maintenance and
lifecycle replacement contract of a new, acute hospital at Blackburn,
Lancashire.

The concession period will be for 30 years following construction completion.
Construction is scheduled to be complete in 36 months after financial close,
currently predicted for spring 2002.

Commenting on the preferred bidder appointment, Mike Welton, Balfour Beatty
Chief Executive, said today: 'We are delighted to be appointed preferred
bidder for Blackburn Hospital. We look forward to bringing the same
professionalism and discipline to the task that ensured North Durham Hospital
opened on time and within budget just three years after financial close. We
are dedicated to working with the Trust to create a first class healthcare
facility, to ensure that clinicians can do their best work'.

Trust Chief Executive, John L Thomas, said: 'I am confident that by working in
partnership with Balfour Beatty Charterhouse Healthcare we can deliver a state
of the art single site hospital which will help us provide the best possible
care for our patients.'

Acute services in Blackburn are currently provided at two sites. The project
involves extending one of them, the Queens Park Hospital, to integrate all
acute services as a single site. As a result, the scheme will provide all
current services at much greater efficiency levels and will also increase the
number of hospital beds and operating theatres.

The new Blackburn Hospital will have 299 in-patient beds, 12 in-patient and
day-care theatres, an accident and emergency department to cater for over
70,000 attendances and a new and expanded outpatient department.

The concession company is a 50/50 joint venture between Balfour Beatty Capital
Projects and Charterhouse Project Finance Limited. Construction will be
carried out by a joint venture of Balfour Beatty Construction Limited and
Haden Young Limited, Balfour Beatty's building services subsidiary. The
facilities management contract will be carried out by another Balfour Beatty
subsidiary, Haden Building Management.

This is the fourth privately financed hospital for Balfour Beatty. Earlier
this year the £70 million North Durham Hospital opened to time and budget. The
£200 million Edinburgh Royal Infirmary is due to be completed in 2003. The £
227 million University College London Hospital is under construction with a
planned opening date in summer 2008.



Enquiries to:

Tim Sharp

Tel: [phone]

www.balfourbeatty.com



NOTES TO EDITORS

1. In the healthcare sector, Balfour Beatty already has three concessions, the
Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and North Durham Hospital, through Consort
Healthcare, and the University College London Hospital. The total construction
value of these three projects is approaching £500 million, with more than £330
 million accruing through long-term asset management contracts. Balfour
Beatty's equity contribution to these three hospital projects is £24 million.

2. 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.

3. Also 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.

4. Balfour Beatty has three road concessions - the A1/M1 Link in Yorkshire
through Yorkshire Link, and the A50 in Derbyshire and the A30/A35 in Devon and
Dorset through Connect. The equity investment in this sector is £16 million,
the construction value was £384 million with associated service contracts of
approaching £100 million.

5. The Aberdeen Waste Water project, a 30-year concession for the finance,
design, building, operation and maintenance of four water treatment plants in
the north of Scotland, reached financial close in 2000.

6. As part of the Metronet consortium, Balfour Beatty is preferred bidder for
two concessions - the Bakerloo, Central and Victoria Line and the Sub-Surface
lines for the London Underground PPP.