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Key Olympic venues face major building delays
Matthew Beard, Evening Standard22.05.08
Two important venues in the Olympic Park have been hit by months of delays, the Standard can reveal.
Olympics chiefs have put back the completion dates for the troubled aquatics centre by five months and the main Olympic stadium by three months.
The disclosures come as inspectors from the International Olympic Committee today attend a ceremony to mark the start - ahead of schedule, according to Games chiefs - of foundation work on the Olympic stadium.
Documents show the £496 million stadium will now not be completed until April 2011, and the £303 million pool complex by August 2011.
Moving the completion date back gives organisers less margin for error. Previous host cities have learnt that delays can lead to contractors raising their prices to deliver on time.
Builders will have to be offsite to allow for the installation of the Games "overlay" - the temporary facilities needed to stage the event. The IOC then requires each venue to host an international-standard test event.
A spokesman for the Olympic Delivery Authority said the deadlines for fitting out the venues and rehearsals were unaffected. He said: "We consistently said that we will complete by summer 2011 and there will be a year for test events. Nothing has changed."
The ODA gave no explanation for the change to the timetable.
However the aquatics centre, to be built by Balfour Beatty, has been beset by wranglings over the design by Zaha Hadid which was finally approved earlier this year.
ODA chairman John Armitt said at today's ceremony in the Olympic Park: "Over the next year the Olympic Stadium structure will begin to emerge from the ground. People will be able to see a stadium designed to be different - an innovative, sustainable design which uses temporary elements to meet a complex brief - a stadium built for both Games and legacy. It is great that we can make an early start but there is an immovable deadline so there are big challenges ahead."
Today the IOC's "co-ordination commission" prepares to give London a glowing report on Games preparations at a press conference. Since arriving on Monday they have toured the Olympic Park and Wembley and been briefed on operational aspects of the Games. They will hold a meeting behind closed doors this morning.
Last night the IOC delegation met Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg and Tory leader David Cameron before attending a reception hosted by Gordon Brown in Downing Street.
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Reader views (2)
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Did the designer of the "aquatics centre" design it during a stay in hospital? I say this as it looks like a giant bedpan.
- Charles Bailey, Mitcham, SW London.
So basically the venues will still be ready a year before the Games begin? So what's the problem?
- Darren, London
