London Update - Olympic Village Criticism; LOCOG Hosts First World Press Briefing

The village will be converted into a mixed development of social housing and more expensive apartments after the Games (London 2012)A leading figure on the London Assembly has ridiculed post-Games plans for the $1.4 billion Olympic Village as likely to create “a 21st Century slum”.

Andrew Boff, the leader of the Conservative group at City Hall, told Around the Rings that the scheme to sell off the property after the Games in a mixed development of social housing and more expensive apartments to pay for the project would never work.

London 2012 organizers this week announced the sale of almost half of the 2,800 apartments in the village to Triathlon Homes, a partnership of developers and housing associations, who are putting $400 million into the project.

Olympic Village developer Lend Lease failed to find commercial bankers to invest, due to the credit crunch and uncertainties over the volatile U.K. housing market. As a result, in May, the Government released millions of pounds from the Olympic contingency fund to enable the project to continue.

The sale was welcomed by London Mayor Boris Johnson. “Today's agreement brings us another step closer to thousands of Londoners benefiting and taking part in the creation of this thriving new district where they will live, raise a family, do business, study, and work,” Johnson said.

“The creation of affordable and high-quality housing in the East End is one of the most important parts of our legacy.”

But Boff, who is in the same political party as the Mayor, said that the plan was flawed. “For me, these Olympics were where legacy was supposed to be at the center of the bid. But there hasn’t been the kind of detailed thinking on some aspects that is required.

“Mixed housing as they propose never works,” he said.

Because of funding uncertainties, some aspects of the design of the village have already been abandoned: a building to house a medical center for athletes during the Games, to become a doctors’ surgery in legacy mode, has been scrapped.

Boff also criticized the design of the apartments, which are being built in 11 towers in the Olympic Park. And he doubts whether they will attract high-end buyers, since they would be unlikely to choose to live in a neighborhood with housing association tenants.

“All they are doing is creating a 21st Century slum,” he said.

Two Staff Suspended Over Olympic Park Payments

The internal review at the London Development Agency which discovered nearly $100 million-worth of payments unmade to the former owners of land within Olympic Park may have claimed its first senior casualty.

The Olympic Park land purchases comprise the biggest forced relocation in Britain, with the LDA agreeing to pay more than $1 billion in order to piece together the 2012 site from 193 separate businesses.

As ATR reported last week, in the past year a significant number of those payments have been overlooked by the LDA, something a spokesman said would now be regarded as “some additional spending commitments”.

According to a report in Wednesday’s Times, Gareth Blacker, the man at the LDA’s Olympic Legacy Directorate in charge of buying the land, has been placed on indefinite leave, along with his accountant. The newspaper’s lawyers note that there is no evidence of wrong-doing. But the report also quotes an unnamed source as saying, “This has gone beyond a routine audit into the realms of a fraud investigation.”

Media Insiders Check Out 2012 Press Plans

The IOC Press Commission led by chairman Kevan Gosper held three days of meetings in London (Getty Images)About 150 representatives of the international media get their first look at plans for the 2012 Olympics this week.

The IOC Press Commission, which oversees media arrangements for the Games, held three days of meetings, led by chairman Kevan Gosper, senior IOC member from Australia. The commission includes the major news agencies, staff from upcoming Olympics in Vancouver and London, as well as the press chief from the Beijing Olympics. The meeting was also the first for new IOC communications chief Mark Adams, who started work this month.

Possible changes to the operation of mixed zones at the Olympics was one of the items on the agenda.

The group toured the Olympic Park site on Monday and will close the visit Wednesday with VIP treatment at 2012 tennis venue Wimbledon. The commission will lunch at Centre Court on day three of the championships, taking in competition on Courts 1 and 2 as well.

On Thursday and Friday , LOCOG hosts its first World Press Briefing , gathering more than 100 leaders of media groups who will send credentialed staff to the 2012 Olympics. The delegates will tour Olympic venues Thursday, followed by a day of briefings by LOCOG staff on press operations and logistics for the Games, such as accommodations and transport.

Media Center Plans Win Approval

Revamped plans for the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) and Main Press Centre (MPC) were approved by the Olympic Park Planning Committee Tuesday. Work on the foundations is already well underway, with piling now 90 per cent complete. The buildings will start coming out of the ground shortly.

Refinements include a new cladding design for the 29,000 square-meter MPC and new ‘chequerboard’ cladding design for the 60,000 square-meter IBC.

The IBC/MPC will accommodate 20,000 broadcasters, photographers and journalists during the the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics. In legacy the facilities will create just under 900,000 square- feet of business space.

Written by Ed Hula and Steven Downes

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