Re Contract

Balfour Beatty PLC
04 November 2002





           BALFOUR BEATTY JOINT VENTURE APPOINTED PREFERRED BIDDER

                 FOR £100M SUNDERLAND STREET LIGHTING CONTRACT





Balfour Beatty, the international engineering, construction and services group,
announces today that SBB, a joint venture between Balfour Beatty Capital
Projects and Seeboard has been appointed as preferred bidder for the Street
Lighting & Highway Signs, PFI maintenance contract, by The City of Sunderland
Council.  The contract is valued at approximately £100 million.



The concession period will be for 25 years from financial close, which is
currently predicted for January 2003.



Balfour Beatty Chief Executive Mike Welton, commenting on the award today, said:
'We are delighted to have been selected as preferred bidder for this project and
look forward to working with The City of Sunderland Council in providing this
essential construction and maintenance service.'



Balfour Beatty is already a major player in term maintenance through its work on
roads for the Highways Agency and local authorities, on rail for Network Rail
and on  long-term PFI and private sector projects.



The work in Sunderland will be carried out by Balfour Beatty's power line and
cabling subsidiary Balfour Beatty Power Networks and Seeboard. Balfour Beatty
Power Networks was recently strengthened by the acquisition of Walgrave, the UK
distribution cable service provider.






The scope of work involves the maintenance of 45,000 streetlights and 13,500
highway signs and other fixed equipment.  The core investment programme will be
implemented in the first five years, during which time some 35,000 streetlights
will be replaced.



Enquiries to:

Tim Sharp

Tel: [phone]

www.balfourbeatty.com


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