Balfour Beatty wins Olympic contract

Source: Construction Digital

Date :08/04/2008 14:24:18

Construction and engineering firm Balfour Beatty PLC announced today that it has won a contract to build the aquatics centre for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

The complex, which will be located south of the Olympic Park, will host swimming, diving and synchronised swimming events, with a planned capacity of 17,500. “The budget for the aquatics centre is £242 million and the budget for the land-bridge that will also form part of the roof of the venue is £61 million,” said Balfour in a statement.

This decision comes as part of a drive to redevelop the neglected East End of London, while generating business for British companies. The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) also confirmed Team Stadium, led by Sir Robert McAlpine, HOK Sport and Buro Happold, would be the contractor for the 80,000-seater Olympic Stadium.

However, the ODA stated that the projected budget for the aquatic centre was well above the originally estimated £213 million, which took into account surrounding infrastructure. Nevertheless, the ODA is confident that it is “within the baseline budget as announced by DCMS last December.”

The ODA also revealed that the budget for construction of the Olympic velodrome would be £80 million, with a contractor due to be announced within the upcoming weeks.

April 8, 2008