London 2012 Organizers Scale Back Plans for Fabric Wrap on Stadium

(ATR) Olympic Delivery Authority chairman John Armitt tells Around the Rings the design of the huge fabric wrap for London 2012's 80,000-seat stadium will not be as ambitious as initially envisaged due to cost pressures.

"It's still being designed, still being debated. In the current cost environment, of course, we are probably likely to spend less rather than more on it," Armitt told ATR.

"But I think it will just finish it [the stadium] off and give us the ability to light it. Particularly at night it will look fantastic."

The fabric curtain concept was originally conceived to enclose the seating bowl and display artwork in various shapes and forms to brighten up the stadium. The idea had been mooted of a kilometre-long video screen wrapping around the venue on which Olympic-related images could be projected.

Under the stadium plans revealed in 2007, catering and merchandising facilities would also be grouped into self-contained 'pod' structures around the arena's access level.

Armitt did not say how much of the plan still stood. "On the wrap, clearly if you went for a total digital thing then that could be very expensive. So it's about trying to keep it simple but effective," he said.

Work on the wrap's installation, stretching to the underside of the roof to full enclose the seating bowl, is one of the next major undertakings for the ODA after all the stadium seats are in place. It will start in November or December "at the earliest", Armitt said.

As the ODA looks to make further savings across the 2012 project, Armitt said the cost of the wrap had yet to be determined.

"It's still being resolved... but it'll be a few million," he said.

Last month, the ODA announced it had slashed the cost of the Games by $41.2 million in line with cuts ordered by Britain's new coalition government to help reduce the public sector budget deficit in thewake of the global recession.

Around $1.1 billion in savings have now been made by the ODA since the November 2007 baseline budget was set by former Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell in the last Labour government.

Armitt told ATR that further savings could be made in the ODA's construction effort on venues and infrastructure for the Games.

"I am not planning to engineer anything out [of the 2012 project]," he said.

"I think there is a recognition that our scope of work needs to stay as it is now. Clearly what we are building is what's required by the IOC and LOCOG.

"For us it's a matter of just constantly putting pressure on the purchasing prices of things, on the efficiency with which we deliver. That's the way we are getting the costs down."

Last month, the ODA announced completion of the 112-panel roof cover of the Olympic Stadium. Made up of 45,000m² of white fabric, it was fitted by a team of 23 expert abseilers. It will provide protection from the weather for two-thirds of spectators at Games-time.

Construction of the stadium for the 2012 Games began in May 2008 and will be complete next summer. Around 10,000 workers are currently building venues on the Olympic Park and constructing the Olympic Village adjacent to it.

Armitt said the ODA was "slightly ahead of program". "This time next year everything will be pretty well complete so it's going well," he added.

Withreporting from Mark Bisson

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