Balfour Beatty to build home for new generation of fighter jets

Defence contractor BAE Systems has handed Balfour Beatty an £82.5m contract to build engineering and training facilities at RAF Marham in Norfolk.

Above: Inside the maintenance and finish Hangar, being developed at RAF Marham for the F-35 Lightning II jets

Balfour Beatty’s work will help prepare the base for the arrival of the RAF’s first F-35 Lightning II aircraft in 2018.

It will construct three new facilities totalling 25,000 m²: an integrated training centre (pictured below); a logistics operations centre; and a maintenance and finishing facility.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed in March 2013 that RAF Marham, near Swaffham, would become the main operating station for the UK’s fleet of F-35 Lightning II jets, supplied by US firm Lockheed Martin.

Balfour Beatty has worked with BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, the MoD’s Lightning Project Team and RAF Marham over the past six months as a preferred supplier to prepare for construction. The project will see 300 construction workers employed at peak

Work is now starting on site this month and completion is scheduled for summer 2018.

Dean Banks, Balfour Beatty managing director UK construction services, said: “We are committed to making this exciting development a success and extending the excellent track record BAE Systems and Balfour Beatty have for delivering defence projects in the UK.

“Our proven expertise in defence and aviation means that we have developed technically advanced delivery solutions that will help to ensure that RAF Marham’s operational capability is maintained throughout our construction activities on base.”