http://www.london2012-tours.com/
http://www.london-tours-2012.com/
It's all doom and gloom in England these days. With the pound sinking and British economy in ruins, London is spending massive amounts of taxpayer money on Olympian development projects. Case in point: the Olympic stadium is going to cost double the initial estimate. There is a long history of cost overruns associated with hosting the summer Olympics and London's summer games are no exception. By my calculations, the games normally cost taxpayers 2 to 6 times initial estimates and sadly London's Olympic stadium is proving me right.
http://www.london-tours-2012.com/
It's all doom and gloom in England these days. With the pound sinking and British economy in ruins, London is spending massive amounts of taxpayer money on Olympian development projects. Case in point: the Olympic stadium is going to cost double the initial estimate. There is a long history of cost overruns associated with hosting the summer Olympics and London's summer games are no exception. By my calculations, the games normally cost taxpayers 2 to 6 times initial estimates and sadly London's Olympic stadium is proving me right.
Initial estimates put the Olympic stadium's pricetag at £270 million (approximately US$405 million) however the costs have, ahem, gone up somewhat. According to the Guardian, the
stadium will now cost a staggering £537m (US$752m). The 80,000-seat stadium is located at Marshgate Lane in Stratford in the Lower Lea Valley. Organisers broke ground in mid 2007 although the official construction start date was scheduled for May 22, 2008. However piling works for the stadium's foundation unofficially began four weeks ahead of schedule.Chief architect Rod Sheard, of HoK Sport, said the stadium would make a big impact, but not in the same way that previous Olympic stadia had. "This is not a stadium that's going to be screaming from the rooftops that it's bigger and more spectacular," he said. "This is just a cleverer building. This is a cleverer solution." The design is apparently modular but comes at a pricetag.
Unlike the profligate Chinese, London 2012 summer games organisers were at pains to reduce, re-use and recycle their various stadia. The design concept is for an 80,000-seat stadium for the summer games. Post-games, the stadium will convert to a smaller 25,000-seat structure that can be re-used for (paying) smaller venues. That was the concept. The reality is proving a bit more problematic. While London 2012's promotional video (see above) suggests a transformer-like switch from 80k seats to 25k, the conversion will eventually cost £100m which in Olympic parlance means £200m-£600m.
Regardless, I think the design is quite striking. Unlike the logo fiasco which does truly look like Lisa Simpson performing a lewd act, the stadium is beautiful. Unlike every other Olympic stadium, the Brits are keeping to a strict construction schedule and may even complete the stadium on time (an Olympic first). Hopefully the removable stadium seats won't collapse while Spyns' clients are watching the opening and closing ceremonies.
For more information about Spyns and our tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympics, please visit our websites http://www.london2012-tours.com/ http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.
