Balfour Beatty lands £154m London Olympic Stadium conversion contract

Balfour Beatty, the UK's biggest listed construction company, has landed a £154 million deal to convert London's 2012 Olympic stadium into a new sports venue set to become the home of Premier League team West Ham.

Included in the new contract is the £41 million deal which Balfour Beatty won last summer to alter the roof of the stadium. The construction will recycle elements of the original stadium such as balustrades and toilets in the shaping of the new venue, which will also host five matches in next year’s Rugby World Cup.

The new 54,000 capacity stadium — which West Ham will move into in 2016 — will also boast the largest cantilevered roof in the world, covering every seat.

Balfour Beatty, which beat the original builder of the stadium, Sir Robert McAlpine, for the conversion job, will employ up to 400 people on the project, taking on about 30 apprentices.

The work is being carried out for E20 Stadium, the joint venture between the London Legacy Development Corp and Newham Council which will manage the stadium. The partnership has been given a 102-year lease on the stadium’s island site.

The latest success for Balfour Beatty adds to a raft of project wins on the Olympics in the build-up to the games. The firm built the Zaha Hadid-designed Aquatics Centre, carried out work on the water polo arena, and landed a £150 million deal to build major roads and footbridges across the park.

Outside of London it also converted Weymouth’s national sailing academy for Olympic use.

Chief executive Andrew McNaughton said: “The stadium will provide a first-class sporting and cultural facility for many generations to come.”