The construction workforce for the 2012 Olympics is to double to 6,000 in the next 12 months in a move that ministers hope will offset widespread redundancies in the UK building industry caused by the economic downturn.
The acceleration in work on the east London site comes with the start of buildings, including the velodrome, media center and a 10,000-seat handball arena. Work on the roofs of the main stadium and aquatics center, the two centerpiece venues, will also start this year and mature trees will be planted in the Olympic park.
But the increase in manpower comes amid fears of insolvencies among contractors that could still knock “the big build” off course, despite some work being ahead of schedule.
David Higgins, the chief executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority, warned that bankruptcies were “an obvious risk” to the program.
“Where you get caught is if you have a big exposure to one or two organizations that get themselves seriously into trouble,” he said.
The authority has contracted more that 800 firms to carry out £3.5 billion (US$5.3 billion) of work and has reduced its payment times in an attempt to stave off potential financial problems among the companies. Olympic officials believe main contractors on the principal facilities, such as the 80,000-seat stadium and aquatics center, are well-financed, but insolvency among smaller firms working on the Games is a concern.
“The Olympic park is already Europe’s biggest construction project and this year will see a huge acceleration in activity, with all major construction projects under way,” Higgins said.
In the busiest phase, next year, there will be 9,000 workers. This year the most obvious progress on a project that is twice the size of London Heathrow airport’s Terminal 5, delivered in half the time, will be the erection of the roof structure on the main stadium, which will be visible from central London. That project is currently three months ahead of schedule, but others appear less secure.
Funding from banks and private developers has yet to be agreed on the athletes’ village and a £95 million bailout from the government to keep foundation works going will run out in March. A deal with the Australian developer Lend Lease is expected to be announced by then, but Olympic organizers believe there will have to be more taxpayers’ money invested in the £900 million project.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but