Balfour Beatty targets renewable energy as key area of growth

Balfour Beatty head of sustainability Jonathan Garrett told H&V News that 22 per cent of its work was from the sector.

He added that the firm was targeting renewable energy projects including nuclear jobs and expected the proportion to grow over the next decade.

Mr Garrett said: “It’s the first time we have tracked sustainability revenue, and if we get good at selling our message that percentage should start going up as customers want more sustainable projects.”

Balfour’s social housing arm Mansell is gearing up to provide customers with retrofit work under the Green Deal.

Mr Garrett said this would provide massive opportunities for subcontractors as the firm hopes to manage projects but rely on its supply chain to do much of the work.

He said: “Low-carbon building work is on the rise and Mansell will employ a huge supply chain to do work on the Green Deal, so while it might have one or two project managers on a small project the rest of it will be the supply chain.

“We want to get into that market but because of its nature we won’t be developing that in-house; we will be looking to our supply chain for expertise.”

Balfour has been appointed preferred bidder for the transmission assets of the £163 million Thanet offshore wind farm project off the most eastern part of Kent in 2010, under a 20-year licence awarded by Ofgem.

The firm is hoping to secure further similar assets as it moves towards providing an all-encompassing construction and management service.

Recent acquisitions include professional services firm Parsons Brinckerhoff and energy procurement firm Power Efficiency.