Re Contract

Balfour Beatty PLC
15 June 2006


15 June 2006

                  CONSORT HEALTHCARE REACHES FINANCIAL CLOSE ON
                  =============================================
                £553 MILLION UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL BIRMINGHAM PFI
                ===============================================

Balfour Beatty, the international engineering construction and services group
announces today that its PPP/PFI healthcare vehicle, Consort Healthcare, has
reached financial close for the PFI contract to design, construct, finance,
maintain and manage the lifecycle replacement of the new £553 million Birmingham
Acute and Adult Psychiatric Hospitals for the University Hospital Birmingham NHS
Foundation Trust and the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Trust.

Highlights:

- The concession is for 35 years following completion of the five-year,
two-month construction period, and will deliver the first new general hospital
in Birmingham for 70 years;

- Balfour Beatty is contributing £23 million of equity to the project;

- financial close on University Hospital Birmingham reinforces Balfour Beatty's
leading position in the UK PPP healthcare market - Consort Healthcare is
currently the PPP concession company for five major hospitals;

- Balfour Beatty is a leader in the UK PPP market with approaching £300 million
invested in 22 projects in the healthcare, education, roads/street lighting and
other infrastructure sectors.

The project comprises a new acute hospital with capacity of 1,213 beds, a
108-bed specialist psychiatric hospital and teaching facility and a separate 32
bedded mental health local facility in Sparkbrook. It is central to the
reconfiguration of hospital services and the improvement of clinical facilities
in Birmingham.

The mental health facilities will open in 2008 and the first phase of the main
acute hospital will open in 2010. The remainder of the new build acute
facilities are scheduled to come on stream in 2011. Balfour Beatty's partners
for the scheme are Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC.

Commenting today, Balfour Beatty Chief Executive Ian Tyler said:

'We are delighted to reach financial close on this very substantial project
which will relocate most of South Birmingham's key medical facilities to a
single, state-of-the-art site and address the Trust's ambitions for greater
efficiency, more space and improved patient care.

Balfour Beatty brings many decades of experience in the healthcare sector and
the benefits of its market-leading expertise in planning, constructing and
operating large PPP hospitals to this very important project.'

The construction work, which has been underway for some time, is being carried
out by a joint venture between Balfour Beatty Construction and Haden Young, the
building services arm of the Balfour Beatty Group. Facilities management will be
provided by Haden Building Management, another Balfour Beatty subsidiary, under
an arrangement that could yield £300 million of long-term service revenue over
the life of the concession.

Balfour Beatty is the leader in the UK PPP healthcare market. Consort Healthcare
has five other PPP healthcare concessions. These are the North Durham Hospital,
which was opened in 2001, and the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, which became fully
operational in early 2003. The new Blackburn Hospital is due to open fully in
July 2006.

Consort Healthcare is preferred bidder for the Pinderfields and Pontefract
Hospitals in Yorkshire and the Northern Batched Hospitals scheme in Manchester,
which will have a combined capital value of some £440 million. Balfour Beatty is
also a partner in Health Management Group, the concession company responsible
for the new University College London Hospital, the first phase of which opened
in 2005.

These schemes represent a committed equity investment of £112 million.

Balfour Beatty Construction and Haden Young are also active on PPP hospitals in
which other parties hold the concession. These include construction for the £160
million new Victoria and Stobhill Hospitals scheme in Glasgow and electrical and
mechanical services for Hereford County Hospital, Kings College London Hospital
and the Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham.

                                      ENDS

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




Notes to Editors

1. Balfour Beatty is a leader in the UK PPP market with approaching £300 million
invested in 22 projects and a team of approaching 200 dedicated professionals in
its specialist management company Balfour Beatty Capital.

2. In addition to its strong position in healthcare, Balfour Beatty is a leader
in education (five projects, equity invested £30 million), roads and street
lighting (six projects, £61 million invested) and in other infrastructure (four
projects, £80 million invested).

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.



                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange