UK Olympics

Already costs for the 2012 Olympics are looking like they are on the up. Proposals for the new aquatic centre, designed by Architect Zaha Hadid, have doubled in cost, since the hosting proposals.

In a sign, perhaps, that the Government will not stand for over indulgence in this massive construction project, the Olympics minister Tessa Jowell has called for a rethink. In a speech to the Thames Gateway Forum she said:

In our bid we pledged that the centre would cost £75m and that is precisely what it will do, with appropriate allowance for inflation. I cannot give anyone a complete assurance that costs for the 2012 Games will not rise. But what I will do is be absolutely ruthless in ensuring that any potential overspend, no matter how small, is caught early and driven back down wherever possible.