Balfour Beatty awarded £102 million Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park regeneration contract

Balfour Beatty today announces that it has secured a £102 million contract to construct phase one of the East Wick and Sweetwater development on behalf of East Wick and Sweetwater Projects Phase 1 Ltd.

The initial phase, which marks the first of seven construction phases, will see the delivery of four mixed use buildings, including 302 apartments, townhouses and duplex residencies and a number of associated commercial facilities including retail and leisure amenities.

Balfour Beatty Investments, in joint venture with Places for People, will provide equity for the construction works with borrowed funding provided by Homes England.

Once completed, the newly created East Wick and Sweetwater neighborhoods will contribute to the transformation of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, providing a new, diverse and vibrant part of East London, as well as 1,500 new homes for the community.

Graham Hill, Balfour Beatty’s Managing Director for its London Regional construction business, said: “This contract award builds on Balfour Beatty’s strong relationship with the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the London Legacy Development Corporation, having constructed the London 2012 Aquatics Centre and delivered transformative engineering works to the London Olympic Stadium.

“We look forward to providing East London with a lasting legacy by creating a range of employment opportunities for local people and businesses through the development of this new and exciting neighborhood.”

The project will target BREEAM ‘Excellent’ status, an environmental assessment method which monitors the sustainability performance of commercial buildings, and produce 302 Zero Carbon Homes. As outlined in the Queen Elizabeth Park’s Biodiversity Action Plan to form open spaces for recreation, the scheme is committed to biodiversity enhancements. Equally, 20% of the main building materials are to be made from re-used and recycled sources.

Ground preparation works commenced in early 2019 with completion expected in spring 2021. At construction peak, the project will employ approximately 500 people with 7% of its workforce formed of apprentices.