Re Contract

Balfour Beatty PLC
23 May 2006


23 May 2006

      BALFOUR BEATTY AWARDED EXTENSIONS TO TWO ROAD MAINTENANCE CONTRACTS
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                          TO THE VALUE OF £170 MILLION
                          ============================

Balfour Beatty, the international engineering, construction and services group,
announces today that its road management and maintenance company, RCS, has been
awarded extensions to two of its long-term local authority road maintenance
contracts, adding £170 million to its forward order book

The highways maintenance contract for North Yorkshire County Council, which was
awarded in January 2002, has been extended by four years from 2008 to 2012. The
extension will be worth approximately £140 million and covers almost 8,000
kilometres of country roads and over 1,500 bridges. The scope of the contract
covers carriageway and footway maintenance, winter maintenance, street lighting
and emergency response.

In Hampshire, the extension of the contract, which began in 2002, is for one
year to 2008 and is worth approximately £30 million. It covers the maintenance
of county roads and covers a similar scope of work to the north Yorkshire
contract.

In both cases, the original contracts were won on the basis of quality and price
in approximately equal proportions.

Commenting on the awards today, Balfour Beatty Chief Executive, Ian Tyler said:
'These contract extensions represent a strong endorsement of our processes and
performance in road management and maintenance, and reflect great credit on our
teams and their ability to work with our customers and respond to their needs.'

RCS now has a forward order book of over £900 million and with annual sales of
approximately £230 million is one of the top three road management and
maintenance companies in the UK.

RCS is also responsible for the management and maintenance of motorways and
trunk roads across Southern England from the Kent coast to the West Country in
Highways Agency Areas 2, 3 and 4. It has other local authority contracts in
Westminster, Wokingham and Surrey and maintains Balfour Beatty's PFI road
concessions in Devon and Dorset, Derbyshire, Yorkshire and the West of Scotland.

                                      ENDS

Enquiries to:

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


Notes to Editors:

1. RCS was established in 1996 and has approximately 2000 employees. Its vision
is to be the UK's leading operator and team maintenance provider, renowned for
customer service, respect for people, protecting the environment and providing
best value.

2. Balfour Beatty's other long-term support services businesses include:

- Balfour Beatty Utilities which is maintaining and upgrading water and gas
systems across the UK in long-term contracts worth approximately £1 billion.

- Haden Building Management which manages and maintains premises and facilities
for clients in the public and private sectors on long-term contracts. Its
customers include the Royal Mail, the Benefits Agency, BT, the BBC, Tesco,
Sainsbury and the Heathrow Express.

- Heery which is one of the US's leading programme and project management
companies and a leader in the US primary and secondary education market.

3. 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,
sustainable 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 and other long-term growth opportunities.



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