Balfour Beatty Awarded £80 Million Student Accommodation Contract

Balfour Beatty, the international infrastructure group, announces today the award of an £80 million contract to design and construct a 19-storey building in central London for Urbanest, a leading supplier of student accommodation in the capital.

The scheme which is situated on Westminster Bridge Road, in close proximity to the South Bank Conservation Area and the Westminster World Heritage site, will provide sought-after higher education student accommodation across 1,092 bedrooms.The development will also accommodate a new sixth-form college, a health suite with swimming pool and affordable office space.

The accommodation floors will include photovoltaic panels and combined heat and power technology to achieve a BREEAM 'Excellent' rating, one of the industry's highest accolades for sustainable best practice in building design, construction and operation. Innovative modular off site construction techniques will be utilised to create bathroom pods and a cladding system, both of which will result in a quicker and safer construction programme.

Balfour Beatty Chief Executive, Andrew McNaughton said:

"The dynamic student accommodation market is a key growth area for Balfour Beatty around the world. We look forward to bringing our knowledge and expertise of sustainable construction methods to this project, our fifth prestigious scheme for Urbanest, in the heart of the capital.

"In partnership with Urbanest, we have committed to a range of employment and training initiatives including the creation of 40 apprenticeships to ensure the project generates tangible benefits for the local community."

Main construction works are due to commence this summer with completion in time for the beginning of the 2015 academic year. At construction peak, the project will employ 500 people on site.

This award follows Balfour Beatty's successful collaboration on four previous student accommodation projects in the capital for Urbanest totalling £100 million at 100 East Road, Hoxton, The Minories in the City of London, the T6 development at Kings Cross and Camley Street in NW1.

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For more information please contact:

Basak Kotler
Balfour Beatty plc
T: +44 (0) 20 7216 6924
E: basak.kotler@balfourbeatty.com

Maitland
T: +44 (0) 20 7379 5151

Notes to Editors:

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.