care of essential assets type public traded as lse bby otcqx bafyy industry infrastructure professional services construction services support services infrastructure investments founded 1909 by george balfour and andrew beatty 1 headquarters london united kingdom key people philip aiken chairman leo quinn ceo revenue 8 235 million 2015 2 operating income 106 million 2015 2 net income 206 million 2015 2 number of employees 36 000 2015 3 subsidiaries numerous website www.balfourbeatty.com balfour beatty plc is a british multinational infrastructure group with capabilities in construction services support services and infrastructure investments . a constituent of the ftse 250 index balfour beatty works for customers principally in the uk and the us with developing businesses in australia canada the middle east and south east asia . 4 balfour beatty is the largest construction contractor in the uk . 5 contents 1 history 2 operations 3 major projects 4 references 5 external links history edit balfour beatty was formed in 1909 with a capital of 50 000 2012 4 410 000 an exceptionally large sum for the time . the two principals were george balfour a qualified mechanical and electrical engineer and andrew beatty an accountant who had met while working for the london branch of the new york engineers jg white & company . initially the company concentrated on tramways the first contract being for the fife tramway light and power company at dunfermline ; its general construction expertise was extended during world war i with for example army camps . 6 george balfour was elected to the house of commons in 1918 and played a large part in the debates which established the national grid . to service this new market george balfour andrew beatty and others formed power securities to finance projects and the two companies with their common directors worked closely together . balfour beatty was heavily involved in the development of scotland s hydro electric power building dams transmission lines and power stations . other work between the wars included the standardisation of the electricity supply in derbyshire and nottinghamshire and the construction of tunnels and escalators for the london underground . extensive overseas work started in 1924 when balfour beatty took over the management of the east african power & lighting company ; construction work included hydro electric schemes in the dolomites malaya and india ; power stations in argentina and uruguay and the kut barrage on the tigris in iraq . 6 by world war ii control of the firm had passed on andrew beatty had died in 1934 and george balfour died in 1941 . construction work was now dominated by the war effort and notable projects included blocking the approaches to scapa flow and the building of six mulberry harbour units . peace saw a resumption of balfour beatty s traditional work power stations and railway work dominating at home . overseas a construction company was bought in canada in 1953 and other work included the mto mtwara harbour in tanganyika and the wadi tharthar irrigation scheme in iraq . 6 in 1969 power securities which by then owned balfour beatty was taken over by cable manufacturer bicc . 7 then in 2000 bicc having sold its cable operations renamed itself balfour beatty . 8 balfour beatty moved away from its traditional area of expertise in 1986 when it formed balfour beatty homes building on a modest scale from its office in nottingham . it also opened offices in paisley and leatherhead and in 1987 bought the derbyshire firm of david m adams to give it an annualised production rate of 700 houses . little more than a year before the housing market collapsed through its parent bicc clarke homes was bought for 51m giving housing sales of over 1600 in 1988 . by the mid 1990s sales were down to only 500 a year and although no financial figures were ever published the housing operation was believed to have suffered heavy losses . balfour beatty homes was renamed clarke homes and then sold to westbury in 1995 . 9 balfour beatty has embarked on a series of acquisitions including mansell plc another construction services business for 42m in 2003 10 birse plc a uk construction & civils contractor for 32 m in 2006 11 centex construction the commercial construction division of the us builder centex for 180m in 2007 12 and cowlin construction a uk construction company based in bristol also in 2007 . 13 the queen elizabeth hospital birmingham being built by balfour beatty in 2008 the company bought gmh military housing a us based military accommodation business for 180m 14 and dean & dyball a leading uk regional contractor for 45 million . 15 in march 2009 the company was found to be a subscriber to the consulting association a firm which then prosecuted by the uk information commissioner s office for breaching the data protection act by holding a secret database of construction workers details including union membership and political affiliations 16 17 and six enforcement notices were issued against balfour beatty companies . 18 as of january 2010 individual workers had started suing the company for being on the blacklist ; 19 the first of these cases however was ruled in favour of the company . 20 balfour beatty was subsequently one of eight businesses involved in establishing the construction workers compensation scheme in july 2014 21 though the scheme was condemned as a pr stunt by the gmb union 21 and as an an act of bad faith by parliament s scottish affairs select committee . 22 in september 2009 the company agreed to buy parsons brinckerhoff a us based project management firm for 626 million . 23 in october 2010 the company bought halsall group a canadian professional services firm for 33 million 24 and then in november 2010 the company bought the remnant of collapsed uk construction company rok plc for 7 million . 25 in june 2011 it went on to buy howard s. wright one of the oldest contractors on the west coast of the united states for 58 million 26 as well as fru con construction a us water and wastewater contractor for 12 million 27 and in january 2013 it bought subsurface group a us consulting and engineering firm . 28 in mid 2014 the company rebuffed three offers by rival carillion for the two companies to merge . the last bid which valued balfour beatty at 2.1 billion was unanimously rejected by the balfour beatty board on 20 august 2014 one day before a deadline for negotiations to conclude . balfour refused to allow an extension of time for negotiations which could have prompted a fourth bid . carillion subsequently announced it would no longer pursue a merger with its rival . 29 the company sold parsons brinckerhoff to wsp global for 1.24 bn in october 2014 . 30 operations edit plasser & theurer 08 16 4x4c100 rt in castle cary in may 2012 balfour beatty has three businesses construction services building design construction management refurbishment and fit out mechanical and electrical services civil engineering ground engineering and rail engineering . support services installation upgrade and maintenance of water gas and electricity networks ; rail renewals ; street and public space management operation and maintenance . infrastructure investments operating a portfolio of long term ppp concessions in the uk primarily in the education health and roads street lighting sectors . operating a portfolio of long term military accommodation ppp concessions in the united states . balfour beatty also has interests in non ppp assets in the uk . the company is a 50 % shareholder in gammon construction based in hong kong . balfour beatty is a member of constructing excellence the business services association and build uk comprising members of the confederation of british industry . 31 major projects edit balfour beatty ford transit at warminster in may 2014 projects involving balfour beatty include the kielder dam northumberland 1982 32 the docklands light railway in london 1985 33 large parts of the m25 motorway around london 1986 34 sheffield supertram 1994 35 the channel tunnel 1994 36 the cardiff bay barrage 1999 37 the lesotho highlands water project 2002 38 nam cheong station hong kong 2003 39 the pergau dam hydroelectric project in malaysia 2003 40 the m6 toll 2003 41 new facilities for the royal infirmary of edinburgh 2003 42 university college london hospital 2005 43 igor i. sikorsky memorial bridge connecticut usa 2006 44 burj mall dubai 2008 45 the united states capitol visitor center 2008 46 the king s cross st. pancras tube station northern ticket hall 2009 47 queen elizabeth hospital birmingham near selly oak birmingham 2010 48 the east london line 2010 49 the a3 hindhead tunnel 2011 50 the london aquatics centre 2011 51 the m25 motorway widening j16 to 23 and j27 to 30 2012 52 the blackfriars station and bridge construction works 2012 53 the new main facility for parkland memorial hospital in dallas texas 2014 54 the m4 m5 managed motorways project in bristol 2014 55 providence tower london 2015 56 crossrail liverpool street station and whitechapel station tunnels project due to complete in 2018 57 references edit balfour beatty . history . retrieved 23 march 2007 . a b c balfour beatty 15 march 2016 . results for the year to 31 december 2015 pdf . retrieved 19 march 2016 . home page . balfour beatty . retrieved 23 march 2015 . balfour beatty 2012 q1 pdf . may 2012 . balfour tops 2013 contractor league . construction news . 14 january 2014 . retrieved 19 may 2014 . a b c ruth slavid balfour beatty s 75 years construction news magazine june 1984 . notes on financial times actuaries index 1969 . august 2012 . halstead richard august 2012 . shake up will see bicc change to balfour beatty . the independent . london . wellings fred dictionary of british housebuilders 2006 troubador . isbn 978 0 9552965 0 5 balfour beatty set to buy mansell . thefreelibrary.com . 21 november 2003 . retrieved 29 august 2012 . richardson sarah 9 august 2006 . balfour beatty issues notice to birse shareholders . building.co.uk . retrieved 17 april 2011 . balfour beatty pays 180 for us builder . ebscohost.com . retrieved 29 august 2012 . about us . cowlin construction . archived from the original on 5 november 2010 . retrieved 19 november 2010 . brodie sophie 13 february 2008 . balfour beatty targets 350m us military deal . the daily telegraph . uk . retrieved 29 august 2012 . bill tom 19 march 2008 . balfour beatty buys dean & dyball for 45m . building.co.uk . retrieved 17 april 2011 . rob evans 4 august 2009 . balfour beatty among firms that bought information on workers . guardian . uk . retrieved 17 april 2011 . firm sold workers secret data . bbc news . 6 march 2009 . retrieved 17 april 2011 . construction blacklist . ico . ico . retrieved 7 september 2015 . rob evans 20 january 2010 . trade unionist sues balfour beatty . guardian . uk . retrieved 17 april 2011 . hoyle rhiannon 8 march 2010 . balfour beatty wins first case in blacklisting scandal . cnplus.co.uk . retrieved 17 april 2011 . a b construction blacklist compensation scheme opens . bbc news business . bbc . 4 july 2014 . retrieved 7 september 2015 . scottish affairs seventh report blacklisting in employment final report . www.parliament.uk . scottish affairs committee . retrieved 7 september 2015 . hoskins paul 17 september 2009 . britain s balfour beatty unveils 626 mln u.s. buy . uk.reuters.com . retrieved 17 april 2011 . balfour buys halsall group for 33m . building . 13 october 2010 . retrieved 12 april 2012 . balfour buys rok businesses for 7 million reuters 19 november 2010 balfour beatty buys us contractor . construction index . june 2011 . retrieved