黑洞社区

The boss of the Co-op Live has said main contractor Bam has 鈥渓ost a lot of money鈥� on the Manchester job, which finally staged its debut show last night.

Tim Leiweke, chief executive of the Oak View Group (OVG), the American operator behind the venue who co-own it with City Football Group, which also owns Manchester City, told the Manchester Evening News: 鈥淎re we spending more than anyone anticipated originally? Yes, but it will be worth it. The original cost was 拢365m and it鈥檚 now over 拢400m.

鈥淥VG and City Football Group, including our contractor and what they鈥檝e had to put in in losses, we will spend close to 拢450m privately. The contractor [Bam] lost a lot of money on this job. This job cost them more than anyone ever expected.鈥�

Bam signed up for a fixed-price deal when it won the job three years ago but Leiweke declined to comment on the amount in financial penalties the firm might be on the hook for.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 between us and Bam,鈥� he told the MEN. 鈥淏am has been honourable, they鈥檙e finishing the project, they didn鈥檛 try to duck out here, they鈥檝e taken it on the chin, their stock got hit, it鈥檚 a public company, I have great admiration for Bam and the job they鈥檝e done here.

鈥淏am got hit hard, they鈥檝e lost a lot of money on this job, I feel bad for them, they鈥檙e doing the best they can. Some things we could have expected, some things were unexpected.鈥�

>> See also: Uh-oh. Co-op Live鈥檚 woes leave industry with familiar sinking feeling

>> See also: 鈥楢 nightclub on a massive scale鈥�: touring Populous鈥� 拢365m Co-op Live arena

In a separate interview, Leiweke told the FT that OVG was 鈥渘ot litigious鈥� and added it would 鈥渟it down and settle up鈥� with Bam 鈥渨hen the time comes鈥�.

黑洞社区 revealed two weeks ago the job was running 24 hour shift patterns and had 800 people working on it to get it ready for last night after missing a series of openings. The entire scheme is not due to be fully complete until later this year with areas such as hard landscaping outside the venue still to finish.

Leiweke said claims the venue knew it would be late back in February were wrong. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not true,鈥� he told the MEN. 鈥淭he fact is, two weeks ago we were ready and then the air filter happened.鈥�

Part of an air conditioning unit fell off during a sound check ahead of the planned opening gig on 1 May by US rapper A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, causing a series of shows, including those by Keane and Take That, to be cancelled.

Leiweke told the FT that the job also had trouble finding enough workers to complete it towards the end, adding: 鈥淲e were paying people two and three times and we couldn鈥檛 find people to work, it was crazy.鈥�

Bam declined to comment.