Balfour Beatty appointed to deliver £120m Leeds Inner Ring Road programme

Balfour Beatty has been appointed by Leeds City Council to deliver the £120m Leeds Inner Ring Road Strategy, a seven-year programme of maintenance and structural improvements across one of the city’s busiest transport routes.

The works will be delivered through the Leeds Contractors Major Works Framework, with Balfour Beatty acting as the sole contractor responsible for the programme until 2032.

The strategy covers the 2.5-mile Inner Ring Road, which carries more than 83,000 vehicles each day and includes over 135 structures, including bridges, tunnels and retaining walls.

Alongside annual planned maintenance, Balfour Beatty will deliver strengthening and refurbishment works to key assets, including the design and build of improvements to four bridges and viaducts, three tunnels and one footbridge.

The contractor will work alongside Leeds City Council and its design partners through an Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) approach to develop construction methods, sequencing and logistics while minimising disruption on the heavily trafficked route.

Maintenance works are due to begin immediately, with the major structural interventions scheduled to start in 2027. The full programme is expected to complete in 2032.

The investment is intended to improve the long-term resilience of the Inner Ring Road while supporting Leeds’ wider transport strategy, future mass transit plans and active travel ambitions.