Contract Win

RNS Number : 3377M

Balfour Beatty PLC

23 August 2013

 



23 August 2013

BALFOUR BEATTY SELECTED AS JOINT VENTURE PARTNER ON

£207 MILLION ($324 MILLION) HOUSTON CONVENTION CENTER HOTEL

Balfour Beatty, the international infrastructure group, announces today that RIDA Development Corporation has selected Balfour Beatty Construction US as a joint venture partner with WELBRO Building Corporation to build the new, £207 million ($324million) 30-storey Houston Convention Center Hotel in downtown Houston.

The hotel will have 1,000 rooms and will be the second hotel to serve the George R. Brown Convention Center / Convention Center District. The hotel is planned to be a Marriott Marquis, which is a brand extension of the Marriott International's signature Marriott Hotel & Resorts Brand, and will attach to the convention centre via a skybridge. (The site is located on the block immediately north of Discovery Green, at Walker St and Avenidas de las Americas.)

Houston‐based, RIDA Development Corp. is developing the Marriott Marquis through a co-operative endeavour with Houston First Corp. RIDA was selected by Houston First Corporation in September of 2012. RIDA and Florida‐based, WELBRO Building Corp. have completed several hospitality projects together, including the Hilton Orlando Convention Centre Hotel in 2009. RIDA and WELBRO selected Balfour Beatty as their local JV partner to build the 30‐story tower. The RIDA team also includes Houston‐based, Morris Architects as lead architect for the project; Looney & Associates of Dallas for interior design; Haynes Whaley as the structural engineer; Bury Partners as the civil engineer; and Blum/DBR as the MEP engineer.

Andrew McNaughton, Chief Executive of Balfour Beatty plc said "Balfour Beatty's US construction business is performing very well and we have seen an increase in their order book to £3.5billion. Our 2009 acquisition in Houston has delivered a strong pipeline of work in the thriving Texas market."

"Balfour Beatty was chosen from among many other local and competent general contractors," said Ira Mitzner, President of RIDA. "Aside from their vast portfolio of hospitality projects and their professional team of construction experts, the difference that set Balfour Beatty apart was their engrained collaborative spirit and how well they mesh with our trusted partner contractor, WELBRO."

Preconstruction of the project will be ongoing throughout the remainder of 2013 and into 2014 (with ground breaking anticipated in the first quarter of 2014.) Construction will encompass approximately 26 months and add more than 1,800 construction jobs and 700 permanent jobs to the Houston hospitality industry. Houston will host the NCAA Final Four in April 2016, and RIDA has indicated that they would like for the Marriott Marquis to be one of the host hotels.

ENDS

Analyst/investor enquiries:

Basak Kotler

Balfour Beatty plc

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Notes to editors:

1.         Balfour Beatty (www.balfourbeatty.com) is an international infrastructure group that delivers world class services essential to the development, creation and care of infrastructure assets; from finance and development, through design and project management to construction and maintenance.

Our businesses draw on more than 100 years of experience to deliver the highest levels of quality, safety and technical expertise to our clients principally in the UK, the US, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. We continue to develop our business in key growth markets in South Africa, Australia, Canada, Brazil and India.

With proven expertise in delivering infrastructure critical to support communities and society today and in the future, our key market sectors include transportation (roads, rail and aviation), power and energy, mining, water and social infrastructure such as hospitals and schools.

Balfour Beatty employs 50,000 people around the world.

2.         Our US construction services arm, Balfour Beatty Construction, has been an industry leader for more than 80 years and provides general contracting, at-risk construction management and design-build services for a wide variety of markets, serving clients in both the public and private sector.

 

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