Today's Assembly questioned witnesses from the Olympic Park Legacy Company - Baroness Ford, the chair, formerly of English Partnerships, and chief executive Andrew Altman, formerly deputy mayor of Philadelphia. They are a class act but running the company that will take on responsibility for the site after 2010, they will need to be.
They identified two primary challenges facing their organisation. First, ensuring that the project continued to be a government priority even after the games are over and the excitement has faded. Second, managing land deals with competitive partners in an uncertain property market.
Baroness Ford confirmed that they have priced the post Olympic work at £450 million, including letting out a media centre that covers a larger area than Canary Wharf. Kit Malthouse warned that a not for profit venture should not become a we need more money project.
Olympic Stadium
Murad Qureshi told us that the Moscow Olympic Stadium had stood unused for 28 years after the games. The inclusion of an athletics track potentially made the facility unattractive for other users, particularly football clubs who want fans to be seated as close to the pitch as possible. The witnesses confirmed that following the games, 55,000 seats would be removed at a cost of £36 million, to create a smaller, more viable venue. The athletics element would remain however, as this was a commitment entered into when the games were awarded to London.
Debt
The witnesses said that they did not expect any additional debt to be transferred to their company. They would be applying for outline planning permission to develop the site in the coming twelve months, after which they would seek bids from development partners.
Remediation
The entire site has been decontaminated to a depth of 31 inches. Much of the area was home to some pretty noxious industries so a lot of nasties were taken away. Jenny Jones wondered if the ground would be safe for growing vegetables. This is potentially a problem for fruit trees with deep roots but smaller plants will be safe. Radioactive carrots will not be bathing the stadium in a luminous glow - unless they grow longer than 31 inches...
They identified two primary challenges facing their organisation. First, ensuring that the project continued to be a government priority even after the games are over and the excitement has faded. Second, managing land deals with competitive partners in an uncertain property market.
Baroness Ford confirmed that they have priced the post Olympic work at £450 million, including letting out a media centre that covers a larger area than Canary Wharf. Kit Malthouse warned that a not for profit venture should not become a we need more money project.
Olympic Stadium
Murad Qureshi told us that the Moscow Olympic Stadium had stood unused for 28 years after the games. The inclusion of an athletics track potentially made the facility unattractive for other users, particularly football clubs who want fans to be seated as close to the pitch as possible. The witnesses confirmed that following the games, 55,000 seats would be removed at a cost of £36 million, to create a smaller, more viable venue. The athletics element would remain however, as this was a commitment entered into when the games were awarded to London.
Debt
The witnesses said that they did not expect any additional debt to be transferred to their company. They would be applying for outline planning permission to develop the site in the coming twelve months, after which they would seek bids from development partners.
Remediation
The entire site has been decontaminated to a depth of 31 inches. Much of the area was home to some pretty noxious industries so a lot of nasties were taken away. Jenny Jones wondered if the ground would be safe for growing vegetables. This is potentially a problem for fruit trees with deep roots but smaller plants will be safe. Radioactive carrots will not be bathing the stadium in a luminous glow - unless they grow longer than 31 inches...
7 comments:
Roger,
It seems even Jenny Jones has a short memory. Not all of the Olympic site was contaminated. Manor Gardens allotments were there for nearly 100 years on land that was willed by a local benefactor in perpetuity. They were evicted by the LDA, despite an 8000 signature petition, to what has proved to be a very unsuitable temporary site. I say 'temporary' because Ken Livingstone gave an assurance that they would be moved back to the Olympic Park after the Olympics had finished. The whole thing has been traumatic and very sad for the plot holders involved. This matter was raised numerous times in MQT and elsewhere. Have a look at Manor Gardens' website
http://www.lifeisland.org/
which gives more detail, especially about their hopes for the future and being relocated to a site in the new Olympic Park as promised.
Peter - you are quite correct. I remember you were a strong campaigner on their behalf, but of course nothing was permitted to stand in the way of the Olympic Dream...
"Olympic dream" Roger? Olympic nightmare more like. A massively expensive egotrip for the self-gratification of government ministers, Robin Wales, and other title hunters. We the public will be paying the cost of this junket for many years to come with absolutely no say on what happens or how much it costs.
I asked my family in Barcelona if it was profitable during the Barcelona Olympics. They said "no". They are based in the centre of Barcelona close to the Ramblas (tourist destination).
You can still visit the Olympic site and I was taken there, but it was sad all those nice buildings, but it was all empty and baren.
I was told the only improvements were the civic improvements to Barcelona, but I have not seen any physical improvement to London start....
I just registered for the tickets to the Olympics. Serious bit of cheek. Londoners pay for the games through their council tax, but we don't get priority over tickets. So all of UK and EU has an equal chance in the ballots.
Yes, anonymous. The entire fiasco of the Olympic Games 2012 is a load of ballots (or something like that).
2012 is also the year for elections of Mayor and Assembly - time to sweep away all the tired old party hacks from City Hall and replace all of them with genuine independents.
Roger,
Has your computer broken down?
Long time no posts. Has anything been going on in the world of politics or has it all been extremely quiet?
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