Company History
1872
George Balfour, a Scot by ancestry, was born in Portsmouth. At 16
he served a five-year apprenticeship in the Blackness Foundry in
Dundee.
1882 – Electric Lighting Act
Parliament passed the Electric Lighting Act to keep the supply of
electricity on a local footing. Electric tramways began to take
over from the old horse-drawn systems. This inspired George Balfour
and Andrew Beatty to establish their own business.
1909 – Balfour Beatty founded
Balfour Beatty was founded by George Balfour, a Scots mechanical
engineer, and Andrew Beatty, an English chartered accountant. The
company described itself as "general and electrical engineers,
contractors, operating managers for tramways, railways and lighting
properties and for the promoting of new enterprises."
The company's first contract was for a new tramway system in Dunfermline in Fife. Worth £141,450, it involved laying new track and lighting cables and installing additional generating plant at the power house. The company subsequently moved into civil engineering when it was commissioned to build a five-mile-long aqueduct at Kinlochleven.
1914 – First World War
Balfour Beatty moved to new London offices, but within weeks the
nation was at war. Many Balfour Beatty staff in London and
Edinburgh left to join the army and those who remained had to take
on new and extra work. Although tramway work was halted Balfour
Beatty was able to undertake other projects of national
importance.
1918
George Balfour was elected as the Conservative and Unionist member
for Hampstead. He played a prominent part in debates on electricity
in 1919, 1922 and 1926 as well as many discussions on
unemployment.
1920
Unemployment more than doubled between December 1920 and March
1921. Recognising that the new electrical industry held great
promise for better employment, George Balfour and Andrew Beatty
registered a new company, Power Securities Corporation Ltd, in
1922, to increase financial resources to fund more and larger
projects including hydro-electric projects in Scotland.
1924
Balfour Beatty began its work outside the UK with hydro-electric
projects in East Africa. This was extended in 1926 to work in
Palestine to supply electricity and water to Jerusalem and
Bethlehem.
1926
The Central Electricity Generating Board was set up to construct
the national grid, at a cost of £26.7 million. By 1922, the
Midland Counties Electric Supply Company had standardised the
voltage in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. In the same year the
Lochaber water power scheme commenced, which called for a 15-mile
tunnel to be driven through granite mountains in Fort William. This
was the longest tunnel in the world and the largest project in the
Scottish Highlands.
1929
By 1929 power facilities were being built all over the world, along
with railways and tram systems. These included a railway in
Bermuda, and Balfour Beatty offices were maintained in Buenos Aires
and Montevideo.
1931
Balfour Beatty became engineers and agents to the Perak River
Hydro-Electric Power Company in Malaya, at the request of the
British Treasury. The company held a concession to supply
electricity to the tin mines in Kinta valley and built two power
stations, but just as these were completed a world slump hit the
tin industry, bringing financial problems. A gradual recovery
brought good results until December 1941, when Malaya was invaded
in the war.
1934
Iraq required gigantic irrigation schemes and the first task was to
build a barrage across the river Tigris. This was completed in
1938.
1939 – Second World War
By the outbreak of the second world war the National Grid plan was
complete and Sir Johnstone Wright, president of the Institution of
Electrical Engineers said that the organisation of British
electricity was without parallel in any other country.
Overseas work was severely curtailed during the second world war. The famous Churchill Barriers were built in the Orkneys to protect the eastern approaches to Scapa Flow - home of the British naval fleet. Once the war was over reconstruction work began. In 1946, work valued at £4 million included installing 100,000 kW of power plant, erecting 230 miles of transmission lines, bomb damage reconstruction, railway tunnel repairs and opencast coal mining. Two massive projects were initiated: a 360,000 kW generating station at Staythorpe and a 345,000kW station at Burry Port in south Wales.
1945
Once the war was over, and the Labour party elected,
nationalisation of some industries was inevitable. This deeply
affected Balfour Beatty and its financial parent, Power Securities.
A new British Electricity Authority would be responsible for
competitively tendering all construction work using public
money.
1951
Balfour Beatty continued to be successful outside the UK. This
included the construction of the Wadi Tharthar project in Iraq. The
£6 million project was opened by King Faisal in 1956.
Other projects included the longest rail tunnel in Britain under the Pennines, the Sloy Dam in the north of Scotland and major works for the developing London Underground system. A Balfour Beatty company was also registered in Toronto to undertake marine projects in the Great Lakes in 1954.
1957
Nuclear power was an exciting new challenge and in 1957 work began
on a power station at Berkeley.
1959
By the time the company enjoyed its golden jubilee in 1959, it was
able to celebrate "50 years of power development and services as a
complete organisation with design, construction, operation and
management of engineering projects in any part of the world."
1960
In the 1960s, Balfour Beatty built a second Blackwall tunnel under
the Thames. It also brought vital new power generation and
transmission capacity to Malaysia, Kenya, Tanganyika and Nigeria,
where the Kainji dam opened in 1969. Vital new water systems were
also provided in the Jordan Valley.
By 1968, Balfour Beatty was well established and successful, but with the new 400kV Supergrid in the UK now complete, the future looked less rosy.
1969
Balfour Beatty merged with the construction activities of BICC, the
British cable-making giant. This strengthened existing disciplines
and added related activities such as railway electrification and a
diversification into new markets including motorway construction,
building and property development.
1975
In the 1970s major projects were carried out in Iran, India and the
UK. To this day, most of the tunnels in the world, which carry
electrified railways, have Balfour Beatty conductors in them.
Work also began at the £350 million Mina Jebel Ali port in Dubai.
Balfour Beatty was also heavily involved in the major expansion of the UK road network and urban traffic management schemes. In 1976 Balfour Beatty Construction won a £30 million contract in a joint venture to build the Kielder dam in Northumberland.
1983
Balfour Beatty became one of Britain’s top contractors with a
turnover of £680 million.
1986
Balfour Beatty leads the UK-side of an Anglo-French joint venture
awarded the turnkey contract to build the Channel Tunnel.
1994
A Balfour Beatty and Costain joint venture was awarded the
£93 million contract for the Cardiff Bay barrage. A contract
to build the Hong Kong Airport terminal building at Chep Lap Kok
was also undertaken in joint venture.
Work in the US included the electrification of Amtrak's North East corridor between Boston, Massachusetts and New Haven in Connecticut.
The Channel Tunnel linking Britain and France opened in 1994. Balfour Beatty had played an important part in its construction and continued work to build sections of the new fast rail link from the coast to London.
1996
Balfour Beatty was an early entrant
into the UK PPP market, being awarded its first project in 1995. By
the turn of the decade, the company had established itself as a
leader in this fast-growing market.
As part of the privatisation of British Rail and creation of Railtrack, Balfour Beatty acquired rail maintenance and rail renewals businesses to augment its position as the UK’s leading rail contracting company.
The appointment of Chief Executive Mike Welton and Finance
Director Ian Tyler marked the beginning of a period of consistent
growth for the company, which has continued to this day.
1997
Radical changes in worldwide cable markets hit the cable business
hard and the losses in the manufacturing business mounted. In 1997
a strategic decision was taken to dispose of the cables businesses,
the bulk of which was accomplished by 1999.
During this period, Balfour Beatty's key projects included the Pergau hydro-electric project in Malaysia, a turnkey contract with Thames Power for a gas fired power station at Barking Reach in east London and a £39 million contract for the extension of the M8 in Scotland.
Balfour Beatty Capital Projects was formed to manage the Group's growing portfolio of privately financed infrastructure projects and a new chapter began.
1998
Following the privatisation of Britain’s railways, Balfour
Beatty played an important part in the maintenance of major lines
and won the contract to remodel the approaches to Euston station
and transform the ageing West Coast Main Line.
1999
The fast growing US transport market resulted in major contracts
for Balfour Beatty in Texas, California and South Carolina. While
in Hong Kong, a HK$2.2 billion contract to construct the Nam Cheong
station in Kowloon was secured.
2000
Following the demise of BICC, Balfour Beatty emerged once more as
an independent public company. It was bolstered by a recovery in
its financial strength, a new management team and the cash proceeds
of the cables sale.
In its aim to become a world leading supplier and maintainer of fixed rail infrastructure, the Group acquired Adtranz's rail electrification and traction power supply business. This gave the company an immediate and major presence in the worldwide high-speed rail market.
2002
The creation of Balfour Beatty Utilities enabled the Group to
secure outsourced term contracts with many of the UK’s
privatised utility companies.
2003
The year saw the retirement of the chairman, Viscount Weir. He had
guided the Group through its major transformation in the late 1990s
when the worldwide cables business was divested and Balfour Beatty
was established as an independent public company.
2004
The Group expanded its presence in Hong Kong with the purchase of
50% of Gammon Construction from Skanska.
The announcement that Balfour Beatty was the preferred bidder for Birmingham Schools brought the number of PPP schools projects to five. The other projects were located in Stoke, Rotherham, North Lanarkshire and Nottinghamshire.
2006
By 2006 Balfour Beatty, with an established track record in airport
infrastructure development, was selected by Devon County Council as
preferred bidder to acquire Exeter International Airport.
2007/8
The acquisition of Centex Construction, a leading US construction
management company and GMH, a major player in the US PPP military
accommodation market creates a major business in the US.
2009
Balfour Beatty is now ranked 19th in the international league table
of contractors. The Group is the largest fixed rail infrastructure
contracting company in the world, a UK leader in roads, support
services, electrical and mechanical engineering and other
disciplines. Our excellent financial performance, all round
strengths, clear strategy and strong cash position mean that we
face the future with great confidence.
