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West ham OS bid collapse

Stoof

THERE IS A PIGEON IN MY BANK ACCOUNT
Staff
Jun 5, 2004
32,219
64,273
Designer behind legacy plan was concerned about risks to taxpayer

An anonymous complaint that scuppered West Ham’s bid for the Populous-designed Olympic stadium was made by the architect behind the original legacy plans, it has emerged.

Steve Lawrence, partner at Devon-based practice Carrick Howell & Lawrence, was commissioned by the Stratford Development Partnership in 2000 to produce a feasibility study into holding the Olympics on Stratford Rail Lands.

Lawrence said he submitted his complaint to the EU Commission, which the government blamed for derailing the legacy deal with West Ham, because he was concerned that the bidding process was flawed and carried risks for the taxpayer.

“In respect of the stadium, the process hasn’t been handled well and has been characterised by indecision and lack of vision,” he said.

Lawrence said that the bidding process “lacked transparency” and warned that the current proposals would require large amounts of state subsidy carrying “a high degree of risk”.

He added that he believed the stadium’s legacy could be saved, and called for local football club Leyton Orient to be considered as co-tenants, with athletics moved out of the stadium to a purpose-built centre nearby.

“A multi-media stadium with a football club as an anchor tenant would have been world class with the potential for an immense revenue stream,” he said.

“To achieve that kind of legacy now is possible but it requires some fundamental rethinking.”
 

stevenurse

Palacios' neck fat
May 14, 2007
6,089
10,022
Were our plans not exactly what he said? Useless bastards have shot themselves in the foot over that stadium
 

yido_number1

He'll always be magic
Jun 8, 2004
8,646
16,809
He was on the BBC either yesterday or late last week talking about it... rather amusing really...
 

SpurSince57

Well-Known Member
Jan 20, 2006
45,213
8,229
Sorry to say, someone beat you to the draw nearly a week ago.

http://www.spurscommunity.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=83855


Were our plans not exactly what he said? Useless bastards have shot themselves in the foot over that stadium

exactly!!

No, they weren't. We offered to tosh out crappy old Crystal Palace with a bit of Artex and a few coats of emulsion. There was no mention of this practice track at all.

The real problem was that the decision to bring in a football club was taken by the government and BoJo long after construction had started.
 
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