A London businessman claims he could put up the 3,500 homes needed for the Olympic Village for 40 per cent less than the £1billion auditors say it will cost.

James Wright says developer Lend Lease's failure to raise enough private funding for the project could be remedied by using modular units to house the 17,000 athletes and officials.

Factory-built flats made by his business, MCM, range in price from about £40,000 for a one-bed model to £80,000 for threebedrooms.

The units come furnished and fitted with bathrooms and kitchens. They can then be arranged, finished and landscaped in a variety of ways.

Mr Wright said erection and infrastructure would double the unit price but the total cost would still come in at about £450million.

His business has been involved in the construction of modular blocks of flats in Hornchurch and an affordable housing complex in Islington. He recently acquired the former Gillette factory in Peterborough to boost the company's production capacity and is involved in projects with Yotel hotels and Southern Cross care homes.

"Using our existing factory we could produce up to 100 modules per week and from greenfield site to completion of the entire complex we would anticipate taking up to two years," said Mr Wright.

"This means that if negotiations were concluded before the end of 2008 and production and construction began in early 2009, the entire complex could be complete by end 2010 or early 2011.

"This would avoid any last-minute disaster and any teething problems could be ironed out well before the Games open."

• 

  Lenny Henry: 'Maybe one day we can have a black Doctor Who'

  Shortlisted at today's Evening Standard theatre awards for his role as Othello, Lenny Henry has come a long way from black and white minstrels

  ---

• 

  Spread of the Jedhead

  Jedward, voted off the X-Factor this weekend, are the most obvious proponents of the sticky-uppy look - but the style crosses boundaries of age, gender, sexuality and taste, says Nick Curtis

  ---

Sky in plot to hire students on the cheap

Sky News is currently recruiting students as reporters for its coverage of next year's general election. However, the opportunity doesn't quite seem so appealing

All stories