$179 Million Engineering Contracts Awarded to Balfour Beatty in the USA.

Business Editors/Construction & Building Writers

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 5, 2000

Balfour Beatty Construction Inc., a leading civil engineering firm, today announced it has been awarded three contracts totaling approximately $179 million.

In Connecticut, Balfour Beatty Construction has been awarded the $84 million Sikorsky Bridge contract by the Connecticut Department of Transportation, subject to final grant of permits. The project is for the reconstruction of the 1,800 foot steel girder bridge on Route 15 over the Housatonic River and is scheduled to begin in October and be of 54 months' duration.

In South Carolina, the company has been awarded the $80 million contract for the design and construction of the widening of state highway 170 from two lanes to four by the South Carolina Department of Transport. The work involves widening 12.5 miles of the road and building a number of new bridges. Balfour Beatty Construction has already begun preliminary design work and site work will begin in approximately three months. The project is scheduled for completion by fall 2003.

In Texas, the company has won the $15 million contract to construct a four-lane highway in Fort Worth for the Texas Department of Transport. This is the latest in a series of road projects won in Texas over the last five years. The work is due to be completed within 12 months.

"We are delighted to have further consolidated our position in the US civil and specialist engineering market through the award of these contracts. The US is a key market for several of our specialist businesses. In transportation, significant expenditure is anticipated on the road and rail infrastructure and we are very well positioned to play a full part in both markets," said Mike Welton, Chief Executive Officer of Balfour Beatty, parent firm of Balfour Beatty Construction, Inc.

Balfour Beatty Construction said it has approximately $650 million of annual sales, where its interests are expanding. It serves a number of selected growth markets through companies who are leaders in their specialist fields.

Balfour Beatty Construction is one of leading civil engineering contractors in the US, with projects under way in California, Texas and in a number of states on the Eastern Seaboard. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Balfour Beatty, the UK based international engineering, construction and services group.

Notes to Editors

1. Balfour Beatty has more than $650 million per annum business in the USA. In addition to its civil and specialist engineering work, it is a leader in rail trackwork through the recently acquired Marta Metroplex; architectural engineering and programme management through Heery Inc; and building management control systems through Andover Controls and Integral Technologies.

2. In civil and specialist engineering, Balfour Beatty had 1999 sales of $340 million, covering road and interchange construction in Texas, marine structures, large bridges and complex highways in the Eastern States and tunnelling and seismic retrofit in California.

3. Balfour Beatty, in joint venture with MEC, has recently completed the overhead line electrification of the railway line between Boston and New Haven for Amtrak in a contract valued at over $500 million.

4. Marta Track is currently constructing a 50-mile extension to the DART system in Dallas, Texas. Metroplex has recently secured three major contracts amounting to some $150 million in value. These are to construct the BART San Francisco Airport Extension, the Alameda Corridor Rail Project in Los Angeles and the Southern New Jersey Light Rail System.

5. Andover Controls is a market and technology leader in building management and security control systems and has annual sales of over $100 million. Integral Technologies, which was acquired in July, is a leader in security surveillance and digital imaging technology. Andover's clients include Merck, AT & T and Johnson & Johnson.

6. Heery is a leading architectural engineering and programme management company with annual turnover of over $150 million and a client list which includes Coca Cola, Home Depot and MBNA.

7. For the SC170 widening contract, Balfour Beatty was selected from a field of six prequalified bidders. The 42-month project is for the design and construction of a 12-mile widening of existing State Route 170 from two lanes to four lanes. Some of the unique improvements offered by the Balfour Beatty team include revised vertical alignment of the bridges to improve aesthetics, line of sight and drainage, a state of the art containment drainage system to keep pollutants out of the rivers and natural stone walls to protect old live oak trees that are native to the area.

8. For the Sikorsky Bridge project, the new structure crosses both wetlands and a navigable river channel. At completion, it will carry six lanes of vehicle traffic plus shoulders and sidewalks. Construction involves cofferdams, drilled shaft foundations, cast in place substructure and piers, high strength structural steel plate girders and cast in place concrete deck with an asphalt riding surface.