Adding value to the community

It is Balfour Beatty’s policy that all its major projects have a dedicated community relations team who provide information about the project to its stakeholders and manage relationships with them. Typically, major projects will be preceded by exhibitions and presentations. Regular newsletters and letter drops will keep stakeholders informed at key project milestones. Key stakeholders will be offered direct access and, where required, there will be help-lines and liaison with local police and other emergency services.

Building Better Futures
In 2009, to mark the company’s Centenary year, Balfour Beatty formed a new charitable fund, The Balfour Beatty Charitable Trust. Through this fund, a programme called “Building Better Futures” has been launched. The fund will work in partnership with two major charities, Action for Children (previously, NCH, the Children’s Charity) and The Prince’s Trust, to help disadvantaged young people throughout the UK. The funds will create accessible play areas for children at Action for Children centres and fund community cash awards for The Prince’s Trust. The Company will donate £200,000 and will also match money raised by employees. Some community projects nominated by Balfour Beatty operating companies outside the UK will also be supported during the year.

The Group also sponsors The Prince’s Trust initiative “Get into Construction.” This offers training and employment in the construction industry to disadvantaged young people. Some 49 courses have been run to date, assisting over 600 people and further courses are in the planning stage. Of the individuals taking part to date, 95% have gone on to employment or further training.

Balfour Beatty received an Award of Excellence from The Prince’s Trust in November 2008. This recognised the significant contribution the Group has made in supporting the scheme and increasing the skills and opportunities for disadvantaged young people.

In early 2009, Balfour Beatty became a patron of The Prince’s Trust and is also sponsoring the Trust’s Educational Achiever of the Year award.

Action for Children was Balfour Beatty’s principal charity partner in 2007 and 2008. During that period, the charity received over £250,000 from the Group, in a mixture of corporate contributions and money raised by Balfour Beatty employees in a wide variety of fundraising activities.

Balfour Beatty London Youth Games
Having become a supporter of the London Youth Games in 2006, Balfour Beatty became the title sponsor in 2008, committing £1.7m to the Games in the period to 2013. The London Youth Games is Europe’s largest youth sports programme. In addition to the sponsorship programme, a sports development grant scheme encourages participation amongst school children at grassroots level and maximises participation of the 32 London Boroughs and the City of London in the Games. A second grant scheme “Sporting Pathways” will promote the development of minority sports in London, in conjunction with their national governing bodies. An employee volunteering scheme has been launched for all Balfour Beatty’s London-based staff, in conjunction with the Games.

Stoke Football Action
Over £100,000 of funding and substantial management support from Balfour Beatty has unlocked public sector funds to create a £320,000 three-year football coaching programme in Stoke, where Balfour Beatty is the PPP schools concession company. Now entering its final year, the programme has proven extremely effective in reducing vandalism and other anti-social behaviour among pupils at risk of social exclusion and is now being extended to include specialist centres for excluded pupils. In 2008, the scheme involved 320 young people at 17 schools and centres.

Groundwork UK
Balfour Beatty has worked with Groundwork UK for three years to deliver improvement projects close to long-term Balfour Beatty work sites, aimed at enhancing local amenities and facilities for neighbouring communities and engaging young local people in the process. In 2008, the basis of the Group’s relationship with Groundwork has been reviewed and a new programme of work with the charity will begin in 2009.

Our Chief Executive, Ian Tyler has continued his role as president of CRASH, the construction and property industry charity for the homeless.

The Group continues to make donations to CRASH; to its former charity of the year, Marie Curie Cancer Care; to support the work of RedR, the engineering-based disaster relief charity; and remains a leading supporter of Engineers Against Poverty, the international charity dedicated to the alleviation of poverty in low-income countries.

Through Business in the Community (BiTC) the Group is supporting various activities, including a partnership arrangement to provide mentoring services to a school in Burnley.

In addition to the corporate programme, operating companies are extremely active in their local communities and have established partnerships with charities relevant to their own businesses. For example, during its centenary year in 2008, Mansell ran a company-wide campaign to raise £1m on behalf of a range of charities.

Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions in conjunction with one of its largest customers, National Grid plc, offers convicted offenders, due to be released back into the community, the chance to be trained and employed in its infrastructure refurbishment and upgrade work on the gas and electricity networks. Being able to pursue a specific job opportunity, while still detained, significantly increases the chances of a successful re-entry into society.

Balfour Beatty Construction US made a donation of $100,000 to the Pentagon Memorial Fund, in parallel with its work to build the Memorial.

Balfour Beatty Capital seeks to make a real and tangible difference through its charitable partnerships. In 2008, this included a team undertaking project work in Malawi as part of the Times Leadership Challenge.

Reflecting the size of the Balfour Beatty fleet and our work with the Highways Agency, several operating companies also have a working relationship with the road safety charity BRAKE and support its campaigns.