IN Brief:
- Balfour Beatty says trading remains in line with expectations, with high single-digit profit growth still forecast for 2026.
- The group has 15 UK transmission schemes in design for National Grid, SSEN, and Scottish Power.
- Energy, defence, transport, and selected overseas building work are shaping the contractor’s order book.
Balfour Beatty has maintained its 2026 guidance as energy, defence, and transport work continue to support the group’s forward pipeline in the UK and overseas.
The infrastructure and construction group said trading since January has remained in line with expectations. The board continues to expect high single-digit percentage growth in profit from operations from its earnings-based businesses in 2026.
The company said its contract mix provides protection against macroeconomic volatility and inflationary pressure, while demand across its chosen markets remains strong. Energy transmission is one of the clearest areas of growth, with the group delivering schemes for National Grid, SSEN, and Scottish Power.
Balfour Beatty said 15 power transmission projects are currently in design. Most are expected to move into construction over the next 18 months, at which point full project values will be added to the order book.
UK transport has also added momentum. The group has secured a £138m contract to build the North Hykeham Relief Road in Lincolnshire, including a new dual carriageway and two bridges. Its support services arm has also won a seven-year Warwickshire highways maintenance contract worth £315m, with extension options that could lift the total value to £900m over 13 years.
Defence is another target market. Balfour Beatty said it has begun multiple pursuits for major Defence Nuclear Enterprise construction frameworks, aligning the business with complex infrastructure, regulated sites, and long-term public-sector investment.
The latest update follows IN Site’s March coverage of how Balfour Beatty lifted its UK construction margin to 3.5%, supported by stronger infrastructure demand and a record group order book. Grid work has become more visible across the wider construction pipeline since then. IN Site has also reported that National Grid named 13 contractors for substation construction work, underlining the volume of delivery capacity now being assembled around high-voltage infrastructure.
Grid expansion is moving further into mainstream construction workload. Transmission routes, substations, access roads, compounds, cable corridors, civils packages, specialist M&E, and commissioning works are all being driven by electricity demand from renewable generation, data centres, industrial electrification, battery storage, and transport decarbonisation.
The work carries a different risk profile from conventional building projects. Transmission and substation schemes operate under live-network safety requirements, environmental conditions, planning scrutiny, outage windows, and complex stakeholder controls. Contractors need the engineering depth, assurance systems, and balance-sheet strength to deliver multi-year programmes without allowing technical risk to erode margin.
Defence nuclear work demands similar discipline. Secure sites, controlled documentation, safety assurance, specialist supply chains, and public-sector scrutiny create high barriers to entry. Contractors able to combine civil engineering scale with regulated-environment delivery are likely to see stronger demand as defence and infrastructure spending converge.
Balfour Beatty’s overseas workload adds balance to the UK pipeline. In the US, the group has secured major building projects including a military housing redevelopment at Fort Carson in Colorado, a data centre in the north-west, and a high school in California. In Asia, its Gammon joint venture has added projects including a new Hong Kong railway station and a residential scheme on Lantau Island.
The shape of the update shows where major contractors are finding resilience. Private-sector building remains uneven, but regulated infrastructure, power networks, highways maintenance, defence, and mission-critical buildings are still generating long-duration work. Balfour Beatty’s near-term test will be converting design-stage transmission schemes into live construction while holding margin discipline as volumes rise.