Re Contract

Balfour Beatty PLC
10 May 2004


10 May 2004


       $200 MILLION OF NEW WORK FOR BALFOUR BEATTY CONSTRUCTION INC IN US
       ==================================================================

Balfour Beatty plc, the international engineering, construction and services
group, announces today that the central division of its US civil engineering
subsidiary, Balfour Beatty Inc, has been awarded new road construction contracts
in Ohio and Pennsylvania to a total value in excess of $200 million.

Commenting on the awards today, Balfour Beatty Chief Executive, Mike Welton,
said: 'We are very pleased to be involved in the major transport development
plans of the Departments of Transportation in Ohio and Pennsylvania. With the
new five-year federal road and transit budget shortly to be finalised and likely
to show significant increases over the previous programme, we look forward to
continuing the expansion of our US road building business further in selected
state markets.'

The largest contract, worth $114 million, is the second largest ever to have
been awarded by the Ohio Department of Transportation. Beginning in early June
2004, the work involves building the new I-270/SR 161 Interchange in Northeast
Columbus, a project which includes 17 bridges, 18 ramps and 43 lane miles of new
highway. The project will take 3.5 years to complete.

At Trexlertown in Pennsylvania, Balfour Beatty Construction Inc has been awarded
a $58 million contract to build a four-lane arterial relocation, including two
interchanges and a number of intersections. Construction will begin in spring of
this year and be complete in late 2006.

In Toledo, Ohio, the company has won the $32 million contract to rehabilitate
the Martin Luther King Jr Bridge over the Maumee River. Steel and machinery
fabrication will begin in spring 2004 with work on site getting under way in
2005. Final completion is scheduled for spring 2006.

                                      ENDS

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

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

1.  The central division of Balfour Beatty Construction Inc, which incorporates
National Engineering and Contracting acquired by Balfour Beatty in 2001, is a
major player in the transport infrastructure markets in Pennsylvania, Ohio and
West Virginia.

2.  Balfour Beatty Construction Inc has a substantial presence in the transport
infrastructure markets in Texas (including the current SH 130 project involving
the construction of a $1.3 billion toll road) and in California. Its major
projects division is currently working on the $200 million project to
re-establish the Greenbush Line Rail Corridor along Boston's South Shore.





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