The opportunities have arisen from a policy in the states of New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria that aims to reduce the cost of providing public services. Balfour Beatty said that it has recognised that the highways maintenance market in Australia is ready for a new provider to bring innovative thinking to these future contracts. A joint team from Australia and the UK has collaborated to transfer knowledge and best practice developed in recent years in the UK to Australian markets.
“Highways maintenance is a core strength of ours in the UK and US, and Australia is a target growth market,” explained Andrew McNaughton, CEO Designate, Balfour Beatty. “We expect that over the next two to three years, there will be up to 12 contracts tendered in Australia and we are competitively positioned to bid for these deals by mobilising a specialist UK team to support our well established Parsons Brinckerhoff business in the country.”
Typical services are expected to include street lighting, bridges, drain clearing, road and footway resurfacing, as well as cutting back vegetation and responding to emergencies on the network. Balfour Beatty said that its infrastructure experience and asset management expertise will enable the bids to be contracted based on achieving outcomes rather than the more traditional contracts based on specifications and rates.
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