Balfour Beatty

The overview

Balfour Beatty is one of the world’s biggest construction and engineering companies, helping build some of the most significant and high-profile civil engineering and infrastructure projects globally. Founded in 1909 by Scottish engineer George Balfour and English chartered accountant Andrew Beatty, the company generated turnover of £9,236m in its 2010 financial year, and was ranked the top UK contractor by work won in the year to 31 August 2011.

As well as building roads, bridges and other things typically associated with infrastructure work, the company has fingers in various other construction pies, including schools, water networks and sports arenas. It currently has around 50,000 employees.

The company’s products and services span the full lifecycle of infrastructure assets, meaning that they cover all of the stages of construction projects, from design and development, to project management, through to operations and maintenance work.

Four business units

Its four main business units each have a key focus:

• Professional services provides services for the early stages of construction projects, such as architectural services, environmental consultancy, planning, programme and project management, and technical services.
• Construction services (the biggest unit by revenues) focuses mainly on the actual construction work involved, offering building work, construction management, design, ground engineering, mechanical and electrical services, rail engineering, and refurbishment.
• Support services offers post-construction and maintenance work like business services outsourcing, facilities management, highway network management, operation and maintenance, rail renewals, and utility network maintenance.
• Infrastructure investments is a financial unit which manages a portfolio of long-term UK Public Private Partnership (PPP) contracts, most of which are in the education, health, roads and street lighting sectors. Also included are some US military-related PPP concessions, and some specialist non-PPP assets in the UK.

Operating in Australia, Europe, the Middle East, South-East Asia, the UK and the US, the company has a global reach. It aims to boost its presence in expanding markets like Asia, the Middle East, Australia and South Africa in the coming years, as part of its growth strategy.

Operating markets

Balfour Beatty has a wide range of capabilities in multiple markets, including:

• Airports – improving and expanding airports in the UK, the US, Hong Kong and Dubai.
• Commercial Buildings – designing, building and managing properties for companies.
• Defence – providing accommodation for US and UK military forces.
• Education – building new educational properties such as schools and universities.
• Health – building and maintaining healthcare facilities.
• Rail – carrying out track work, electrification, signalling and other work for fixed rail operators.
• Roads – constructing and maintaining roads in Dubai, the UK and the US.
• Ports and marine infrastructure – planning, design and management of coastal engineering projects such as ports, piers and jetties.
• Power – building and maintaining power generation and transmission networks.
• Water – replacing and repairing water supply networks across the UK.

Strengths and rankings

Its diversified business and portfolio of PPP concessions are generally considered Balfour Beatty’s key strengths, and increasing government investment in transport and rail projects is expected to provide significant growth opportunities in the coming years.

A balanced business model.

The company says it is confident about its long-term success due to its balanced business model, strong partnerships and ‘innovative approach’.

Balfour Beatty is a constituent of the FTSE 250 index of mid-cap companies; this means it is among the 101st–350th largest companies with a market capitalisation of between $2bn and $10bn on the London Stock Exchange. It ranked 1,067 in the 2010 Forbes Global 2000 list of companies by turnover.

Major clients

• UK Ministry of Defence, US Air Force, US Navy, UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
• Highways Agency, Transport for London, Texas Turnpike Authority, Network Rail.
• London Borough of Southwark, Seattle Public Schools, the Institute of Technical Education (Singapore).
• BBC, Bank of America, Arsenal Football Club.
• Yorkshire Water, Scottish Power Renewables.

The Highways Agency said of its decision to award the A3 Hindhead improvement contract to Balfour Beatty: ‘Balfour Beatty won not because their price was the lowest – it wasn't – but because it was considered that they would provide the best value for money and the right quality for this environmentally sensitive scheme.’

Salary and benefits

Balfour Beatty offers a range of different graduate programmes, all of which have slightly different structures and benefits packages. Having said that, certain benefits are common to the majority of schemes, including:

• Up to 25 days’ holiday per annum.
• Private medical cover.
• Pension scheme.
• Travel allowance/company car.
• Further education funding.
• Share save scheme participation.
• Access to the company’s graduate yearbook, which offers advice, contact details and networking facilities.

While salary details are closely guarded – Balfour Beatty says it is the kind of level ‘you'd expect from a major international company’ – reports indicate salaries for Graduate Engineers are in the region of £23,000–25,000, while those for Graduate Site Managers are £24,000–26,000.

Examples of different benefits packages

Balfour Beatty Plant/Fleet & Corporate

• ‘Competitive’ salary
• 23 days annual leave
• Flexible Benefits Scheme
• Pension Scheme
• Payment of professional institution fees
• Study leave as needed

Balfour Beatty Rail

• Competitive salary
• 23–25 days’ holiday
• London Weighting Allowance (where applicable)
• Joining bonus and anniversary payments (in certain areas)
• Option to join pension fund
• Option to join flexible benefits scheme
• Chance to win up to £1,500 in the Chairman’s Graduate Prize for innovation and creativity

Culture and values

Balfour Beatty strikes an inclusive tone in much of its recruitment material, focusing on the pride the company takes in its work and the hope that its employees will follow suit.

In addition to its core values of integrity, teamwork, excellence and respect, the company says it aims to improve its services through ‘simplicity and common sense’, and that its employees should also embrace these values.

Staff surveys have led to new initiatives like flexible working.

The company also touts its commitment to equal opportunities and diversity in describing its culture. While Balfour’s proportion of female staff remains fairly low, at 21% in 2010, it is worth noting that this is well above the figure for the overall UK construction industry, which was just over 14% in 2009, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Employee satisfaction

The company says that employee surveys are regularly conducted across most of its businesses, in order to determine staff attitudes and opinions, and to identify any needs that are not being addressed. A group-wide survey was also conducted for the first time in 2007. The findings of the surveys have been used to develop new initiatives such as a flexible working scheme, to help boost employee retention.

Volunteering

Balfour Beatty runs an Employee Engagement Volunteering Programme linked to the London Youth Games, of which it is the corporate sponsor. Employees are encouraged to volunteer their time to the schools and sports club involved in the event, which includes competitions for children aged 7 to 19 in 30 different sports.

Balfour Beatty has sponsored the games since 2006, and contributes £1.7m in cash as well as supporting employees who want to be involved as referees, scorers, results coordinators and other roles.