London 2012 sticks with venues- 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00
Following an economic review, London 2012 organisers have announced that they will stick with the temporary venues to be created for the basketball and equestrian events for the Games but may move badminton, handball and rhythmic gymnastics from their current planned locations.
A review of the temporary venues for basketball and equestrian by KPMG prompted by the economic downturn concluded that the existing proposals remained the best possible solution.
Consequently construction will go ahead on a 12,000-seater, £60m temporary arena for basketball in the main Olympic Park while the equestrianism events will stay at Greenwich Park.
London 2012 said in a statement: ‘The KPMG review showed that there are no significant savings to be made from moving the basketball venue off the park to an existing permanent facility.
‘This is due to the resultant costs of venue hire, operating costs and the loss of ticket revenue due to a reduction in capacity - not building a temporary venue would significantly reduce the number of spectators that would be able to watch the event.’
London 2012 chief executive Paul Deighton told the London Assembly it ‘did not make economic sense’ to move the basketball venue, which will also host the handball final and semi-finals, wheelchair rugby and wheelchair basketball, and will act as a holding area for athletes before the opening and closing ceremonies.
However he said that the organising committee would look at a new venue for badminton, handball and rhythmic gymnastics away from north Greenwich, changes that could result in savings worth close to £40m.
None of the alternative venues for the equestrian events were close enough to accommodate the modern pentathlon show jumping event which needs to be located close to the Olympic Park to allow the completion of all five events within one day.
Other sites would also require accommodation for competitors as they would not be within International Olympic Committee guidelines for travel time from the Olympic Village.
Fencing and volleyball have already been moved to existing permanent sites as the government is under pressure to keep costs down after the Olympic budget spiralled from an initial estimate of £2.4bn to £9.3bn.
CommentsAdd Comment