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Balfour Beatty reaches financial close for £170 million PPP hospital in Fife

Further addition to the Group's significant PPP healthcare portfolio

Balfour Beatty, the international engineering, construction and services Group, announces today that Consort, its specialist PPP healthcare company, has reached financial close on the £170 million Fife General Hospital and Maternity Services PPP project for NHS Fife.

Under the 30-year concession, Consort will provide a new wing to Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, including 11 operating theatres, an emergency care centre, 13 wards, surgical and medical assessment units, a maternity unit, a women and children's unit, day intervention, critical care, coronary care and renal and dialysis facilities.

The chosen location of the new wing will minimise disruption to the existing hospital and facilitate the transfer of patients to the new facilities when they are completed.

Commenting on the appointment today, Balfour Beatty Chief Executive, Ian Tyler, said:

"This project will transform healthcare delivery in Fife. We believe that our design, developed in full consultation with NHS Fife's project team and healthcare professionals, will create a first-class, efficient facility with an improved environment for patients and staff that will also make a high-quality addition to the local built environment. We look forward to delivering the expertise gained in working on a wide range of other healthcare PPP projects to the benefit of the people of Fife."

NHS Fife Chairman, Professor Jim McGoldrick said:

"We are delighted to make this announcement today and look forward to taking this forward with Consort who are as committed as we are to delivering modern, high-quality services".

"This is a key step in the multi-stranded strategy for the future provision of health services in Fife. We have been working with local people since 2002 to develop and bring to reality our vision for future services. That vision will become a reality for Victoria Hospital in 2011."

The construction of the new wing at Victoria Hospital, currently the largest construction programme in Fife, is part of the long-term strategy for the co-location of specialist inpatient and emergency services on one site. Future developments outside the PPP project include the re-configuration of services at Victoria and Queen Margaret Hospitals, once the new wing has been completed.

The new wing, which has been under construction since September 2008 under an Advanced Works Agreement, will be carried out by Balfour Beatty Construction and Haden Young. The project is due for completion in 2011.

The maintenance and facilities management for the scheme will be provided by Balfour Beatty WorkPlace.

Balfour Beatty Capital, the Group's infrastructure investment arm, will invest £9.5 million of equity in the project, as will HSBC, its financial partner.

The total amount of debt funding is £170 million.

ENDS

Media/Analyst enquiries:
Duncan Murray
Tel: 020 7216 6865
www.balfourbeatty.com

Notes to Editors:

1. This is Balfour Beatty's ninth major hospital scheme under the UK government's Public Private Partnership programme. Balfour Beatty's committed equity investment in healthcare is now some £116 million.
   
   Balfour Beatty's existing PPP hospital schemes are as follows:
   
   - £90 million Durham Hospital (opened 2001)
   - £220 million Edinburgh Royal Infirmary (opened 2003)
   - £280 million University College London Hospital (opened 2008)
   - £116 million Royal Blackburn Hospital (opened 2006)
   - £553 million Birmingham New Hospitals (under construction)
   - £300 million Pinderfields and Pontefract Hospitals (under construction)
   - £120 million Salford Hospital (under construction)
   - £60 million Tameside Hospital (under construction)
   
   
2. Balfour Beatty is a leader in the UK PPP market with well over £300 million committed investment in 28 operational projects and a further three at preferred bidder stage. The Fife hospital project is the first of Balfour Beatty's four major schemes at preferred bidder to reach financial close in 2009.
   
   
3. Balfour Beatty is the construction partner to Canmore Partnership Ltd in the PPP concession for the new Victoria and Stobhill Hospitals in Glasgow. Recently completed this project, which began in August 2006, involves some £180 million of design and construction work. In Glasgow, Balfour Beatty is also building the new mental health secure unit at Stobhill and the new Beatson Institute cancer research facility at Garscube.
   
   
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/PFI and other long-term growth opportunities.
   
   It is the leading concession company and contractor in Scotland.