Re Contract

Balfour Beatty PLC
01 December 2004


1 December 2004



       BALFOUR BEATTY APPOINTED PREFERRED BIDDER FOR THE £250 MILLION PPP
            PINDERFIELDS AND PONTEFRACT HOSPITALS DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
            =========================================================

Balfour Beatty, the international engineering, construction and services group,
announces today that its PPP healthcare vehicle, Consort Healthcare, has been
appointed preferred bidder for the Pinderfields and Pontefract Hospitals
Development PPP Project by The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust. The project
will have a capital value of approximately £250 million.

The 35-year concession, for which there is a programme to reach financial close
by January 2006, is central to the reconfiguration of health services in the
area. It will deliver a new acute inpatient hospital in Wakefield on the
existing Pinderfields Hospital site and a new Diagnostic and Treatment Centre in
Pontefract.

Balfour Beatty is likely to invest some £15 million of equity in the project.
Balfour Beatty Group companies will be responsible for the majority of the
construction and all of the building services and physical facilities
management.

Commenting on Consort's appointment as preferred bidder, Balfour Beatty Chief
Executive, Mike Welton, said: 'We are delighted to be successful in bidding for
the largest PPP hospital development in Yorkshire. When complete, the project
will enable the transformation of hospital services across Wakefield and
Pontefract and the optimisation of services at Dewsbury District Hospital to
achieve the Trust's ambitions of high-quality patient care. Balfour Beatty is
bringing to the task many decades of experience in working as a key contractor
in the healthcare sector and its expertise in planning, constructing and
operating five other large PPP hospitals.'

Lord Lofthouse, Chairman of The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: 'We
look forward to working with Balfour Beatty to progress our plans to provide our
local communities with two brand new, state-of-the-art hospitals that will offer
the highest quality healthcare in the best possible environment.'

The concession company, Consort Healthcare (Mid Yorkshire), is a joint venture
between Balfour Beatty and the Royal Bank of Scotland. The construction work
will be carried out by a joint venture between Balfour Beatty Construction,
Haden Young (the building services arm of the Balfour Beatty Group) and M J
Gleeson. Facilities management for all estates and facilities services
(including catering, cleaning, portering, security, linen and laundry) will be
provided by Haden Building Management, another Balfour Beatty subsidiary, under
an arrangement that could yield over £400 million of long-term service revenue -
the largest healthcare services contract secured to date by the company.

It is expected that the new Pontefract Hospital will open in 2008/9 and that the
new Pinderfields Hospital will open in 2009/10.

Consort Healthcare is the PPP concession company for four major hospitals. Two
of these are fully operational; the University Hospital North Durham, which was
opened in 2001, and the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, which became fully
operational early in 2003. Construction work for the new Blackburn Hospital
began in July 2003. Consort Healthcare is also preferred bidder on the £521
million Birmingham New Hospitals Project, which is due to achieve financial
close in spring 2005 and where advanced construction works are already under
way. Balfour Beatty is also a partner in Health Management Group, the concession
company responsible for the University College London Hospital, and in the joint
venture engaged in its construction.

                                      ENDS

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


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

1.  In addition to its own PPP hospital concession projects, Balfour Beatty 
    Group companies are also working as contractors on a range of other major 
    healthcare projects, including the Stoke Mandeville Hospital under a £24 
    million project, the £75 million Addenbrooke's Hospital and the £13.5 
    million Lochgilphead Community Hospital in Scotland.

2.  Balfour Beatty is a major player in other UK Government healthcare
    initiatives, such as the £16 million Moorfields Eye Hospital under the 
    ProCure 21 initiative and LIFT projects worth £23 million, under which the 
    first East London Scheme was opened last week.

3.  Balfour Beatty already has a substantial presence in Yorkshire.

    Through Balfour Beatty Utilities, it is responsible for the £120 million,
    five-year contract to design, build, upgrade and rehabilitate Yorkshire 
    Water's clean water distribution network.

    Through RCS, it is responsible for the five-year, £100 million contract to
    maintain the entire local authority road network in North Yorkshire 
    including winter maintenance, street lighting, gully emptying and fleet 
    maintenance.

    In Rotherham, it is responsible, under a 28-year, £100 million, PPP 
    concession, for all the construction, upgrade and refurbishment work on the
    local authority's school stock, including building at least six new schools.

    Through Connect Roads, it is responsible for the management and maintenance
    of the M1-A1 Link Road.

    The company is building five schools in Calderdale in a contract worth
    £45 million.

4.  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, long-term 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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