黑洞社区

The overall cost of the aquatics centre complex will be 拢303m, the Olympic Delivery Authority has announced.

The price will include Zaha Hadid鈥檚 centre, to be built by Balfour Beatty for 拢242m, together with a 拢61m bridge linking it with the rest of the park.

The Olympic Delivery Authority also confirmed Team Stadium, the team led by Sir Robert McAlpine, HOK Sport and Buro Happold, as the contractor for the 拢496m stadium.

Balfour Beatty, confirmed today as the winning bidder for the Zaha Hadid-designed aquatics centre, has been given a budget of 拢242m for the building itself and a further 拢61m budget for the land-bridge that will form part of the building鈥檚 roof.

The 拢303m figure far exceeds all predictions for how much the centre would cost to build; it was widely expected to have a price tag of 拢213m, including surrounding infrastructure.

However, the ODA said: 鈥淭he total of 拢303m has not changed throughout the procurement process and is within the ODA鈥檚 baseline budget as announced by DCMS last December.鈥�

The confirmation of Team Stadium as main contractor comes nine months after a memorandum of understanding was signed. The site has now been handed over to Sir Robert McAlpine and construction has started, three months earlier than originally announced.

The ODA also revealed that the budget for construction and legacy conversion of the Olympic velodrome will be 拢80m. It said it will announce a contractor within weeks, though 黑洞社区 understands that Carillion is favourite for the job.