Balfour Beatty Construction among the Top Five Green Contractors

Balfour Beatty Construction has climbed to the fourth position among the largest green construction companies in the United States. The company clocked revenues of more than $2 billion from sustainable construction projects in 2011. That amounts to a jump of more than double of the company's $1 billion revenues reported in 2010.

The substantial jump in revenues placed Balfour Beatty among the top five green construction companies in the country. This represents a jump of six spots from the company's tenth position in 2011, as per the Engineering News-Record's 2012 Top 100 Green Contractors list.

Tracy Browne, Balfour Beatty Construction's Vice President of Sustainability, says: "We saw the biggest increase in revenue in the education, healthcare and telecommunications markets." The company put together an aggressive sustainable construction strategy in 2009 recognizing the key social, economic and environmental aspects of going green.

Browne said: "Through that strategy, we train and develop our employees, implement innovative and leaner practices, and use material resources wisely, thus creating more value for our clients." Browne quoted an example of the company's green practices for its own buildings. She said: "And we practice what we preach. Two of our own office spaces on the East Coast achieved LEED certifications in early 2012."

At present, more than 400 employees at Balfour Beatty Construction have professional accreditation under leading environmental standard rating organizations such as LEED. The company is focused on consolidating its sustainable construction strategy for the future. Balfour Beatty will be setting up additional goals around sustainability by the end of the year to ensure that the current momentum that the business has created in this space strengthens further.

Browne said: "We are focused on the growing interest in net-zero design and construction, net-zero ready buildings, and energy retrofits. Energy retrofits are an important change of focus as the size of the existing building stock is far greater than and in many cases less energy efficient than new building stock."

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