French builder pulls out in Olympic Aquatic Centre row
27/09/2007 |
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A builder shortlisted to work on one of the highest-profile projects of the London 2012 Olympics has pulled out of the tender process after a dispute over how the constructor will be paid.
Eiffel, the French engineering group that built the eponymous tower in Paris, was not invited to complete its application to build the £150m aquatics centre at the Stratford site by the Olympic Delivery Authority as a result of the payments row.
According to a report in today's Construction News, the dispute arose over the French group's concerns about interference from the ODA and its delivery partner, CLM, and its lack of prior association with the venue's architect, Zaha Hadid.
Two other construction firms, Balfour Beatty and Hochtief, remain on the shortlist and Olympics sources do not believe that the withdrawal of Eiffel will affect competition in the tender process.
Multiplex, the Australian construction group that built the new Wembley Stadium, has vowed not to tender for any Olympic Games contracts after suffering enormous losses on the 90,000-seat venue. A 2012 source said: "We can understand people being worried because of what's happened in the past but we're confident we can learn the lessons from Wembley." The source pointed out that a five-strong shortlist had been drawn up for the sailing centre at Weymouth and Portland.
The aquatics centre has already been the subject of conflict between the Olympics minister, Tessa Jowell, and Hadid. Jowell's department apologised after she claimed there had been a "completely unacceptable" rise in costs associated with the design.
(Source: Guardian.co.uk)
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