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2012 chiefs splashing out £40m on pool consultants
Matthew Beard, Evening Standard11.02.08
Consultants' fees for the project to build the Olympic aquatics centre could hit £40million, it has emerged.
The cost of employing outside engineers, architects and surveyors has mounted following changes to the venue's complex design.
Olympic chiefs are demanding venues for the 2012 Games are "green". This has proved a challenge for the aquatics centre because such pools are noted for high heating bills.
Rising professional fees are thought to be one of the main factors contributing to the centre's budget, which has tripled to £214million, as revealed by the Evening Standard last week.
Olympic chiefs are expected to confirm the budget later this month after contracts are signed with Balfour Beatty. They will seek to justify the cost due to the aquatics centre's architectural appeal.
Consultants working on the project include architect Zaha Hadid, pool designers S&P and engineers Arup.
It is thought that there have already been three designs for the dramatic, vaulted roof, including a proposal to build it with a wooden framework instead of steel. The aquatics project was initially due to be completed next year, but the deadline was extended two years as the Olympic Park in Stratford was reconfigured after the bid. Fifteen months ago Ms Hadid submitted a scaled-down design for the venue after Olympics minister Tessa Jowell rejected her plans on cost grounds.
A source close to the project said: "The key people fell in love with the design from an early stage. They talk of iconic designs, but the practicalities of making it work are proving very expensive. You could buy an Olympicsized pool with what they are planning to spend in professional fees."
There are concerns that the venue cost could yet exceed £214million. Firms bidding for the contract priced it at £254million, and sources close to negotiations suggest the final price could be £280million.
Experts in swimming pool design say £40million would cover the cost of a more modest Olympic-sized centre.
An ODA spokesman said: "The aquatics centre budget will be confirmed shortly when contract negotiations are completed. This budget will cover the contract price and fees and will be consistent with the overall budget for venues, confirmed by the Government in December. We are confident that the aquatics centre will be a stunning, iconic venue."
Reader views (4)
The amazing thing is that ARUP are being paid yet more fees after having undercosted the Olympics by billions! Why are we still employing them and paying their massive fees?
- Jonathan, new york
What's the point of paying over the odds for a "stunning, iconic venue" when the plans call for half of it to be dismantled straight after? Meanwhile grass roots sports are having their funding cut to pay for this fiasco. Some legacy.
- G, London
Gravy train, pigs feeding at a trough, I could go on and on examples of the greed being shown by everyone connected with this con on the taxpayers of Britain. In recent weeks I have seen on this website articles on privately planned and financed projects some on a massive scale that will cost a fraction of what is being charged for the Olympics. This is because those in charge of the Olympics are spending public money and when that is involved no expense is spared. They should all do the decent thing and resign then hand the Olympics over to the French and let them be ripped off instead.
- David Brubaker, London, UK
Will somebody please "CONFIRM" that 2012 chiefs splashing out £40m on pool consultants was previously "costed for" in the "original" 2012 Budget?
After all "This Is London" and residents want "full transparency" and to know the "whole truth" rather than simply receiving "Spin'll Fix-It" sound bytes when it is convenient to and suits the Olympic Development Agency to do so.
Or is this yet ANOTHER £40m that Londoners are going to be "STUNG" for?
- Fraser, Telford Park
