Olympic stadium costs an extra £100 mill

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/west-ham/11686581/Olympic-Stadium-cost-rises-to-702-million-ahead-of-West-Ham-hand-over-and-tax-payer-will-pay-for-most-of-it.html


Olympic Stadium cost rises to £702 million ahead of West Ham hand over - and tax payer will pay for most of it
Cost of redeveloping London 2012 centrepiece into a Premier League ground will be £272m - at least £100m more than first thought



Olympic Stadium cost rises to £702 million ahead of West Ham hand over - and tax payer will pay for most of it

Mounting costs: Public will end up paying at least £100m more than first thought Photo: AFP

By Ben Rumsby

1:57PM BST 19 Jun 2015


The public will end up paying at least £100 million more than first thought towards converting the Olympic Stadium into West Ham United’s new home.

The cost of redeveloping the London 2012 centrepiece into a Premier League ground was announced to be £272m by the London Legacy Development Corporation, taking the overall bill for the venue to £702m.

That is a whopping £118m more than had previously been revealed, almost all of which will be paid for by the public purse.

To compound matters, West Ham will still contribute a grand total of just £15m under the terms of its 99-year anchor tenancy of the stadium, which was originally built for £430m.


An artist impression of what stadium will look like when West Ham move in

It was already forced to increase the budget for Balfour Beatty to construct a new roof from £154m to £189.9m following complications.

The LLDC defended the costs by claiming it was part of a regeneration programme that would deliver and additional economic benefit to east London of “well over £3 billion”.

It added: “The stadium work included the removal of the original roof and light paddles and installation of a new permanent roof, the largest of its kind in the world. The 45,000sqm cantilevered roof needed significant strengthening of the superstructure to support the 8km of cable net, 112 steel rafters, 9,900 roof panels and 14 light paddles each weighing 45 tonnes. The new roof covers every seat in the venue, improving the acoustics and spectator experience.

Image A: Post-conversion Olympic Stadium in athletics mode



“An innovative retractable seating system required the removal of the lower seating bowl. The 21,000 movable seats bring the fans close to the pitch for football and rugby ensuring the stadium has a long-term legacy. Other works included installing catering facilities, toilets and turnstiles, all of which were only temporary during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

As well as being the new home of West Ham, the stadium will stage a range of other sporting events and become the new home of British Athletics.

Even before re-opening permanently, it will host the Sainsbury’s Anniversary Games, a Barbarians v Samoa rugby union fixture, five matches in the Rugby World Cup and an England v New Zealand rugby league international.


Boris Johnson blames Labour Government of mid-2000s for the additional costs

LLDC chief executive David Goldstone said: “We have invested in transforming a temporary athletics venue into a permanent world class multi-use arena that has a secure and long-term sustainable future. This has required a significant amount of work and innovative engineering solutions.

“Alongside the transformation workm the deals signed with British Athletics and West Ham United and the appointment of a stadium operator ensures the stadium will pay its way and not require any continuing subsidy from the taxpayer.”

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London and LLDC chairman, blamed the Labour Government of the mid-2000s for the additional costs.

“A very bad call was made when those in charge at the time backed a stadium construction plan that would leave the Olympic Park with a much smaller, mouldering and tumbleweed ridden arena following the Games,” he said.

“Following that plan would have literally torn the heart out of the park and put at risk the incredible economic regeneration we are now seeing in east London.

“Our remedy offered long term sustainable investment in order to protect an iconic stadium that Londoners took to their hearts, and which is now set to be home to almost every conceivable sport, concert or community event for decades to come. We’ve created a knockout venue that will drive and sustain thousands of jobs, where we’ve ensured that a hefty share of the profits will be paid back into taxpayer coffers and which provides a genuine Olympic legacy for our city.”
 
Makes my blood boil knowing my hard earned money is going towards them ****s making money. It's totally unacceptable.

I hate them, I don't want a penny going towards them.
 
Real Deal - 20/6/2015 15:33

Makes my blood boil knowing my hard earned money is going towards them ****s making money. It's totally unacceptable.

I hate them, I don't want a penny going towards them.
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I am so angry it is not even funny.
 
BBC article on the same topic puts the boot in a bit more. I really can't believe West Ham have got away with it
 
'63Spur - 20/6/2015 19:51

Too late........Spam have won the lottery.
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Never a truer word spoken.

It is hard to believe in today's environment the Olympic Committee and Spam aren't being called out and crucified on this. More the Olympic Committee than Spam.

Let's face it, if we had this deal we would be very happy.
 
There's talk now that the porn barons have finally fallen out and that the plan is to sell once they've moved in - and that they already have a couple potential buyers in sight - one of them is supposed to be a billionaire whale investor! :21:
 
Boris Johnson was interviewed a couple of weeks back and the question was put to him about what would happen if the value of West Ham increases significantly after they move to the OS (which it almost certainly will) and Gold and Sullivan decide to sell. Who would receive the benefit from the increased value of West Ham........the porn barons, or would the taxpayer be able to recoup the money? Boris completely fudged the issue saying something along the lines of this scenario had been discussed but he wasn't at liberty to reveal any details.

Think its safe to assume then that Gold and Sullivan will pocket the lot and the new owner will inherit a £700m publicly-funded stadium for just £2.5m rent per year. Everyone's a winner.......apart from the taxpayer and us (oh, and Leyton Orient).

 
I wonder if it is an international owner whether or not someone will figure out that even at that price tag the British taxpayer is subsudizing a foreign owner?

My bet is any new owner will NOT be from the EU.
 
Now FFP has been ' loosened ', I still believe our only route to the big boys table is if we're bought by a sugar daddy who's more interested in success for the club than personal monetary gain.

Building and paying for our own stadium is going to hold us back for years and years, I doubt everyone else is going to sit patiently on their hands while we're hamstrung in the transfer market.
 
Dan Roan BBC sports editor
More from Dan

Olympic Stadium West Ham are due to move into their new home at the end of the 2015-16 season

21 June 2015 Last updated at 11:58

Share this page 9.6KShareFacebookTwitter.print..Olympic Stadium: Final bill raises questions over West Ham deal

Such was the inevitable focus on Mo Farah on Friday, it was easy to overlook the latest story regarding the scene of the British athlete's greatest triumph.

Just a few minutes before the double Olympic champion issued his statement denying the use of performance-enhancing drugs, the final bill for the reconstruction of the Olympic Stadium was revealed.

Converting it into the new home of Premier League side West Ham United will now cost £272m, meaning the overall spend will reach £702m for the 54,000-seater arena - a lot more expensive per spectator than the £798m lavished on the 90,000-capacity Wembley.

The announcement served as a reminder of two principal concerns that continue to hang over the stadium: the amount of public money used to make the venue suitable for football, and what some regard as a lack of transparency.

Certainly, the agreement that anchor tenants West Ham negotiated - to pay just £15m towards the conversion costs - looks more and more like the deal of the century.

The stadium's owners, the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC), admits the project is over-budget by around £35m.

Putting the largest cantilevered roof in the world on to a superstructure that had not been built to bear that kind of weight was far more complex and expensive than envisaged - the contract was announced initially at £155m, before rising to £189m in October.

Compare that to the £42m required to convert the City of Manchester stadium after the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

The new figures emphasise just how regrettable it is that the stadium was not originally designed for multi-purpose use - the original roof was not designed for long-term use and was too small to cover the retractable seats in 'football mode'. Had it been, the burden on the taxpayers would not perhaps be anywhere near as great.

The original plan was to convert the stadium into a 25,000-seat athletics facility after the Olympics. However, it later became apparent that having a Premier League football club would be far more financially viable, with Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham left to fight it out as the two main bidders.

Usain Bolt Usain Bolt enjoyed winning gold medals at the 2012 Olympics Games in the stadium

The big problem was that London's 2012 bid team had promised the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that an athletics legacy would be maintained at the stadium.

Spurs wanted to remove the running track, which may have made more sense for the taxpayer but was seen as politically unacceptable, certainly by London 2012 chairman Lord Coe. To have backed the plan would have risked losing the support of Lamine Diack - the man he hopes to soon replace as president of the International Association of Athletics Associations.

The fact Spurs wanted to redevelop the Crystal Palace stadium - and therefore leave an alternative athletics legacy in London - was not deemed good enough. But more of that later.

West Ham were, therefore, seen as the only option, leaving them in an incredibly strong bargaining position when it came to their financial contribution and meaning there was no choice but to compromise over usage. The stadium would have to be converted for both football and athletics.

But retractable seating does not come cheap. Not in a stadium that was not designed for it.

The LLDC points to the security gained by having an anchor tenant on a 99-year lease, and insists this will avoid the kind of white elephant that blight Olympic parks in former host cities such as Barcelona, Athens and Beijing.

It also says the Rugby World Cup matches this autumn and World Athletics Championships in 2017 are examples of the sort of world-class events the arena will be able to host, "part of a regeneration programme that will create an additional economic benefit to east London of well over £3bn".

Andy Silvester, campaign director at the Taxpayers' Alliance, is unimpressed. "The cost of renovating the stadium continues to spiral - much like every sports project the government gets involved in," he told me. "Taxpayers will be astounded that West Ham have been gifted a stunning new stadium for the same price that they paid for Andy Carroll.

"You can't blame the owners for taking advantage of this generous subsidy but such a cut-price deal simply isn't appropriate when you consider the extraordinary windfall coming the Premier League's way as a result of the new TV deal."

The LLDC points to the 10 annual community sports events the Olympic Stadium will host, a new floodlit community running track, a training and education centre and the 100,000 free West Ham tickets that Newham residents will be given each season.

West Ham's Andy Carroll West Ham paid the same amount for the Olympic Stadium as they did for striker Andy Carroll

But assuming Carroll and new coach Slaven Bilic help to keep West Ham in the Premier League, and the club can fill its new home, owners David Gold and David Sullivan can now look forward to a bright and very lucrative future.

With an iconic venue, the club is in an exceptional position to develop its brand, attract a new generation of fans and replicate the upward trajectory managed by Manchester City after they moved into their publicly-funded stadium. West Ham could become a real threat to the likes of ars*nal and Spurs, let alone smaller, more local rivals Charlton Athletic and Leyton Orient.

And, just like City, West Ham could also now be coveted by foreign investors - possibly from Qatar (who recently snapped up the Olympic village) or China (from where developers are pumping £1bn into London's Docklands).

Which brings us to the issue of transparency. If Gold and Sullivan do sell the club in the next few years for a big profit, the taxpayer will receive something back. But neither the club, the LLDC, nor the Mayor of London are prepared to tell us what proportion of any profit.

Equally, we are not allowed to know the rent West Ham must pay (it's been reported at £2m annually). That, we are told, is also subject to commercial confidentiality.

For many, given the vast amounts of public money going into the project, this secrecy is not good enough.

Meanwhile over in south London, all this is particularly hard to take.

If Spurs' bid had been accepted instead of West Ham's, the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre would be benefitting from a facelift that would have transformed its athletics stadium into a 25,000-seat facility. Instead, its indoor running track, a 25m swimming pool and the main stadium face demolition in the next few weeks as part of the Greater London Authority's (GLA) proposals to redevelop the site.

Crystal Palace stadium The Crystal Palace National Sports Centre faces demolition

John Powell MBE, chair of the Crystal Palace Sports Partnership Board, and an athletics coach at the site for the last 40 years, said: "There is widespread anger from clubs and the community about the top-down, centralised approach for funding hugely expensive projects that will benefit so few in the future, and harm wider grassroots access to sports and training to so many.

"West Ham are gifted a potentially world-class facility, while athletes training in south London will be forced to work out in the cruel British winter as Crystal Palace is likely to be razed to the ground. The current plans could be catastrophic for sport in London."

The GLA says the venue is underused and in poor condition. But many will struggle to understand Crystal Palace's plight, especially after figures this week from Sport England revealed an alarming drop in the numbers of adults participating in sport on a weekly basis, and the new Sports Minister Tracey Crouch demanded a replacement for the country's "severely outdated" sports strategy.

London Mayor Boris Johnson says the Olympic Stadium "will drive and sustain thousands of jobs [and] provides a genuine Olympic legacy for our city".

But as we approach its three-year anniversary, increasing numbers will be asking whether the hopes of a meaningful legacy from London 2012 have failed.

The stadium that became a symbol of those hopes now has a huge responsibility to provide some much-needed encouragement.

Could all this have been avoided?

Since publishing this article I've been contacted by architect Steve Lawrence who back in the '90s, worked on the very earliest concept plans for an Olympic stadium on behalf of the Stratford Development Partnership.

Lawrence claims hundreds of millions of pounds could have been saved if his ideas - widely distributed to London boroughs in 2001 - had been listened to.

"My plan was to construct the stadium in the six-metre high soil layer from the Channel Tunnel Rail Link so that the stadium bowl could be lowered post-Games as part of a conversion from athletics to football - with sight-lines for football designed in at the beginning," he says.

"In addition to the stadium becoming a football ground, the warm-up area next to it was going to be converted into a 20,000-seater athletics facility.

"The proposal was for West Ham and/or Tottenham Hotspur to be joint anchor tenants on a completely commercial basis, and we discussed the potential for converting the hockey arena for Leyton Orient, again to be let on a commercial basis."

"The problem was that the government sold 100 hectares of land for £12.5m as part of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link deal, and the new landowners were hostile to the idea of a football stadium on their extremely valuable land.

"So the stadium was eventually built on land that was purchased by compulsory purchase order and with the caveat that it would be athletics only."

It seems some people did think ahead after all. If only they had been listened to.
 
West Ham: David Gold says Hammers 'will fill Olympic Stadium'
By Frank Keogh

BBC Sport

West Ham expect to have capacity crowds at nearly all of their matches at the Olympic Stadium, co-chairman David Gold has told BBC Sport.

Gold wants the Hammers to "worry" the big five Premier League clubs after moving from the Boleyn Ground to their new 54,000-capacity home next year.

And he believes new boss Slaven Bilic will "galvanise" players and fans.

Gold said the club wants to win the Europa League and hopes Andy Carroll will feature in the early stages.

Grounds for optimism?
West Ham are preparing for their final season at the Boleyn Ground, with the fixtures released on Wednesday revealing Swansea will be the last Premier League visitors to Upton Park, in early May.

"Leaving the Boleyn Ground will be an emotional time. It will be a momentous event for anyone affiliated to the football club," said Gold, who grew up in Green Street, yards from the East London ground.

The Hammers will go from playing in front of 35,000 fans to the potential of nearly 20,000 more, so can they fill their new home?

"Obviously, attendances have a lot to do with performances on the field, but taking all things into account we are optimistic of filling the stadium, 99% of the time," said the 78-year-old, who owns the club with David Sullivan.

"Every time we get an update on ticket sales, they are the best we have experienced. All the targets we have set ourselves are being met."

West Ham's Boleyn Ground The Boleyn Ground in East London has a 35,000 capacity

The Olympic dream
Gold points to improved transport links, location and facilities as reasons why he believes the new ground will be attractive to spectators.

"Upton Park has two underground lines. At the Olympic Stadium, there are five train stations within a 10-minute walk of the ground and 13 lines that come into Stratford," he said.

"There are towns all over Kent, Essex and further afield where the journey into Stratford will be a different experience.

"One fan wrote to me and said he was coming in from Ashford and he'll save an hour each way on his journey. Even coming in from Europe will be easier."

He said many season tickets would be the cheapest in the Premier League to "encourage younger fans".

Slaven Bilic New West Ham boss Slaven Bilic oversaw Croatia's 3-2 win over England at Wembley in 2007

All change at West Ham?
The Hammers have appointed Slaven Bilic as their manager following the departure of Sam Allardyce, 60. Is it a risk?

"I don't personally have a fear of that," said Gold.

Croat Bilic, 46, has experience of managing his national side, plus spells with Lokomotiv Moscow and Besiktas. He played 54 times as a defender for West Ham from 1996-1997 before signing for Everton. But he has never managed a Premier League side.

"I think there's a risk with any appointment. Some of the great managers with great records don't always come off in the Premier League," said Gold.

"He doesn't have experience as a Premier League manager but he does as a player. What he will lack in years of experience, he will make up for with youthful dynamism."

Attack, attack, attack
The club set out a list of criteria when seeking Allardyce's replacement - they wanted a manager capable of winning a trophy, bringing the young players through and playing attractive football - the so-called 'West Ham way'.

"I think we are going to see attacking football," said Gold. "With the players we have, and others coming in, we will have a natural attacking bias in our squad.

"I like Slaven's passion. The box he ticks above other managers is that he is an ex-West Ham player, but you can look at a manager's CV and sit there with your boxes and tick here and there - you cannot see what they are really like until you are face to face.

"He interviewed well, and last week we went to the Olympic Stadium, spent half a day with him and it was a good feeling. I like the way you can have chemistry between people. He is a relatively young man with drive and desire."

Andy Carroll Striker Andy Carroll has been capped nine times by England

Carroll's comeback
Injury-plagued striker Andy Carroll is back in training following knee surgery in February, and the Europa League could offer him a chance to return to full fitness.

"When he heard we were in the Europa League, he saw it as a great opportunity. It couldn't have come at a better time for him," said Gold.

The Hammers' first game will be on 2 July, and they are likely to field a mixture of first-team regulars and younger players.

"I'm hoping we don't have to play all of our first team in the opening games. I would hope Andy will be playing in one of those early matches," said Gold.

"It will be good for players like him, Diafra Sakho and Enner Valencia, who are itching to get back on the pitch. It's a great opportunity for Diego Poyet, who hasn't had as much playing time as he would like."

Andy Carroll's injury record at West Ham
September 2012: Injures hamstring in his first game on loan - out for a month

November 2012: Twists knee against Manchester United - sidelined for two months

May 2013: Damages heel in the last game of the season - out for seven months

July 2014: Tears ankle ligaments in pre-season - out for four months

February 2015: Knee surgery - set to miss rest of the season


Taking the Europa League seriously
West Ham qualified for the Europa League via Uefa's Fair Play system and will find out their first qualifying round opponents in Monday's draw.

"I really take this tournament seriously and I want to win it," said Gold.

"We've got to prepare ourselves for plenty of games and hope we don't get too many injuries.

"We saw it last season with a fabulous start, then players started dropping like flies before we finished a disappointing 12th."

Europa League in numbers
23: Number of matches West Ham would have to play to win the competition

6: Games before the Premier League starts

48: Number of teams in the group stage - 16 already qualified, 22 from qualifying, 10 from Champions League


Strengthening the squad
Bilic will be given money to bring new players in, although one immediate priority lies with a star of last season.

The Hammers are keen to reach a deal with ars*nal for defender Carl Jenkinson, who they had on loan but also interests Sunderland.

"We know we need a right-back and will work tirelessly to bring in Carl. If that does not work out, we have other irons in the fire," said Gold.

"We said to Slaven 'get your priority list and let's see what we can do'. We have a track record of working with our managers."

'Worrying' the Big Five
Gold said: "We are hoping West Ham will be in a position very soon to worry the top five and have them saying: 'Who are these upstarts? Who do they think they are?'

"As far as challenging these great clubs, it's very very hard. Southampton challenged last season, and there's absolutely no reason why West Ham can't emulate them.

"There is a big difference between realism and hope. Realistically, in the next five years we would expect to be knocking on the door of Europe, whether that's by finishing seventh or eighth or by winning the FA Cup or reaching the final.

"The longer-term aim is we want to frighten the big boys of Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, ars*nal and Liverpool. We want the Big Five to be looking over their shoulders."
 
Yet we finished above the scouse again and are not in the same league as them? laughable. They are overrated crap.
 
Yeah, it was clearly dig at us by Gold to exclude us from the top teams. They hate us, and unfortunately with the amazing financial deal they've got from the Government, and with no doubt more outside investment to come because of that amazing deal, I can see them doing a Man City with us looking enviously up at them rather than us looking down on them as we've done for the past 100 years or so. The times they are a-changing (sadly).
 
I can't see this deal standing. It may take a couple,of years but I don't think it will hold.
 
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/oct/01/west-ham-olympic-stadium-appeal

How will this work out?
 
I don't know what the article is talking about when it comments that they want to know how much money will be returned to the tax ayer if the club is sold? I don't think they do either.
 
80deg16minW - 2/10/2015 08:31

I don't know what the article is talking about when it comments that they want to know how much money will be returned to the tax ayer if the club is sold? I don't think they do either.
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The issue revolves around the potential added-value that a low-cost tenancy (that's virtually a never ending lease) would equate to when the owners sell the club, so if they've paid a 'premium' upfront of only £15 mill, (as they have) it's likely that if they were to sell the club in 10 years time that they are fully entitled to ask for £100 mill for the lease rights to the new club owners or they very well might say 'the lease is in our names (not the clubs) it's guaranteed by us, so we're the effective landlords and we're now charging you a new rental of £5 mill a year...effectively making a notional £2.5 mill a year...forever...

Well at least that's my 'informed' view of the situation, of course I could be very wrong :14:
 
Spursex - 2/10/2015 09:52

80deg16minW - 2/10/2015 08:31

I don't know what the article is talking about when it comments that they want to know how much money will be returned to the tax ayer if the club is sold? I don't think they do either.
Click to expand...

The issue revolves around the potential added-value that a low-cost tenancy (that's virtually a never ending lease) would equate to when the owners sell the club, so if they've paid a 'premium' upfront of only £15 mill, (as they have) it's likely that if they were to sell the club in 10 years time that they are fully entitled to ask for £100 mill for the lease rights to the new club owners or they very well might say 'the lease is in our names (not the clubs) it's guaranteed by us, so we're the effective landlords and we're now charging you a new rental of £5 mill a year...effectively making a notional £2.5 mill a year...forever...

Well at least that's my 'informed' view of the situation, of course I could be very wrong :14:
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Hmm. I was under the impression that the organization had a 99 year lease. Sale of the club would have no impact on that contract unless there was something specifically written into the lease regarding that.
 
80deg16minW - 2/10/2015 18:05

Spursex - 2/10/2015 09:52

80deg16minW - 2/10/2015 08:31

I don't know what the article is talking about when it comments that they want to know how much money will be returned to the tax ayer if the club is sold? I don't think they do either.
Click to expand...

The issue revolves around the potential added-value that a low-cost tenancy (that's virtually a never ending lease) would equate to when the owners sell the club, so if they've paid a 'premium' upfront of only £15 mill, (as they have) it's likely that if they were to sell the club in 10 years time that they are fully entitled to ask for £100 mill for the lease rights to the new club owners or they very well might say 'the lease is in our names (not the clubs) it's guaranteed by us, so we're the effective landlords and we're now charging you a new rental of £5 mill a year...effectively making a notional £2.5 mill a year...forever...

Well at least that's my 'informed' view of the situation, of course I could be very wrong :14:
Click to expand...

Hmm. I was under the impression that the organization had a 99 year lease. Sale of the club would have no impact on that contract unless there was something specifically written into the lease regarding that.
Click to expand...

Exactly.
 
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