Balfour Beatty
The creation and care of essential assets
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| Public | |
| Traded as | : OTCQX: |
| Industry | Infrastructure - professional services, construction services, support services, infrastructure investments |
| Founded | 1909 by George Balfour and Andrew Beatty |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
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Key people
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Philip Aiken, Chairman Leo Quinn (CEO) |
| Revenue | £8,235 million (2015) |
| £(106) million (2015) | |
| £(206) million (2015) | |
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Number of employees
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36,000 (2015) |
| 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.
Balfour Beatty is the largest construction contractor in the UK.
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.
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.
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.
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Wikipedia