Sadiq Khan launched the inquiry after it emerged that the cost of completing the works had risen by an extra £50 million.
Work to turn the centrepiece of the 2012 Games into a football ground – including the overhaul of the roof and the addition of 21,000 retractable seats – was originally estimated at £154 million. That figure later rose to £272 million, partly due to the complexity of adapting the huge cantilevered roof. Now it has emerged that the revised total cost is nearer to £323 million, with reports that the cost of the new seating had risen from an estimated £300,000 to £8 million.
It is understood West Ham FC contributed just £15 million towards the conversion costs and that the rest of the £752 million cost of building the arena and subsequently making it fit for football has been met by the taxpayer.
Sadiq Khan has ordered an investigation into how the costs of converting Populous’s 2012 Olympic Stadium into the new home for West Ham FC have ballooned
www.architectsjournal.co.uk
West Ham paid a £15mill contribution to converting the Olympic stadium.
West Ham pay £2.5mill a year to lease the Olympic Stadium. (City pay £4mill a year, which goes back to the residents of Manchester, on a 250 year lease on the Etihad Stadium)
