LOCOG chair Sebastian Coe says excellent progress has been made in 2007. (Getty Images)London on Track to Face Construction Challenges Ahead
London 2012 organizers say they have met all their targets for 2007 and are on schedule to begin construction work on the 'Big 5' venues next year.
Demolition work on the sites of the Olympic Stadium, Aquatics Centre, IBC/MPC, velopark and the Olympic village is now complete.
“In a project of this scale and complexity, we have to make the most of every day, and we have done just that this year, making excellent progress,” LOCOG chair Sebastian Coe said Wednesday.
“We enter 2008 excited about the prospect of Beijing 2008, and of the beginning of our own Olympiad,” he said.
“As the eyes of the world turn to London after Beijing, we will be ready, and we won’t disappoint.”
Coe was speaking at a news conference staged to review London organizers achievements this year and assess their challenges ahead in 2008.
In March, Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell announced the government's $19 billion budget for the Games, which covers development of venues and infrastructure, transport and regeneration of east London. It was almost triple the figure in the city's bid book, raising concerns that costs were spiraling out of control.
But amidThe tallest building on the Olympic Park is torn down in the autumn. (Getty Images) accusations of rising costs Olympic officials have been getting on with the job. They were applauded for their efforts by an IOC coordination commission in June and in the body's report to the IOC's Executive Board last week.
Next year, building work gets underway at the 500-hectare Olympic Park site in Stratford. Total venue costs are estimated at $2.4 billion, with London's showpiece stadium costing $1 billion alone.
Construction of the 80,000-seat main stadium is scheduled to begin in the spring and the swimming venue next summer.
ODA chairman John Armitt said 2007 had been a year of solid progress and the ODA was “exactly where we planned to be at this stage”.
“Big challenges lie ahead but we have put in place strong foundations for the future,” said Armitt, adding that the ODA would change gear in 2008 “as we enter the start of the ‘Big Build’ phase”.
LOCOG's separate operational budget is fixed at $4.1 billion, which is being raised from sponsorship, television rights, merchandising and ticket sales.
Having so far secured three top tier partners – Lloyds TSB, EDF Energy and Adidas - London 2012 claims to ahead of schedule in its sponsorship drive. Additional tier one sponsors will be signed up by the Beijing Olympics.
In 2008, London 2012 will:
- Receive the Olympic and Paralympic flags in Beijing as London’s Olympiad begins - Launch a pre-Games training camp guide - Intensify work to clean the site of decades of contamination - Announce more tier one and tier two sponsors - Award construction contracts for velodrome and Aquatics Centre and developer for IBC/MPC - Begin the construction phase in earnest with number of workers increasing dramatically Launch the Cultural OlympiadBuilder Raises Aquatics Centre Price?
Balfour Beatty is reported to be using its sole bidder status for the Zaha Hadid-designed Aquatics Centre to push up the contract price.
Reports in the British media say the builder has Designs of London's Aquatics Centre are being refined before construction begins next summer. (ODA)put in a bid of $500 million for the venue – more than triple the estimated $150 million cited in London's bid book.
The withdrawal of German builder Hochtief and French construction firm Eiffel in October left Balfour Beatty to negotiate a price with the Olympic Delivery Authority as part of the procurement process.
Discussions on the contract price are continuing and the ODA hopes to officially appoint Balfour Beatty by next February.
But the ODA declined to comment on reports that the Aquatics Centre could end up with a $500 million price tag.
“We cannot discuss the budget while we are still in commercially sensitive discussions with a potential contractor,” an ODA spokeswoman told ATR.
Meanwhile, the design of the 17,500 capacity facility is currently undergoing revisions, although no major changes are expected to plans for the permanent building. The venue will have 15,000 temporary seats in Games-time mode.
The design had already been scaled back under previous cost-cutting measures.
Balfour Beatty is scheduled to begin construction work next summer.
Athletes Warned to Meet Testing Obligations
The British Olympic Association has warned that it may no longer accept “mitigating circumstances” as a reason from athletes who miss three out-of-competition drugs tests, meaning they risk expulsion from the Olympics.
In an appeals panel decision that cleared 400m runner Christine Ohuruogu, officials insisted that excuses will not be tolerated in future cases of athletes falling foul of the 'whereabouts' testing rules.
The panel's statement said that “it becomes increasingly difficult for athletes to rely upon teething problems within the system and lack of education in the same way that Ohuruogu and other successful appellants have done.
“In future, athletes might well need to brace themselves for the serious possibility of rejection of their appeals and lifetime ineligibility for the Olympic Games.”
Ohuruogu was suspended for a year by UK Athletics after missing three tests and automatically banned from competing in Olympic competition under a BOA bylaw.
After her UKA ban, she returned to the track to win the 400m world title in August. Ohuruogu then won her appeal against the BOA ban last month, allowing her to compete in Beijing.
The appeals panel this week unequivocally endorsed the BOA’s view that 'no advance notice out of competition testing' is a fundamental part of the fight against doping, noting that athletes “must be fully aware of their obligations as part of either a national or international testing pool”.
With reporting from Mark Bisson.
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