My honest answer would be yes. I can understand spending a large amount on an impressive athletes village, providing quality accommodation but it was never completed and by the looks of it they completely misjudged the demand for high end apartments in a poor neighbourhood.
The attached link gives a basic video of the development and where it is situated.
From the video, my thoughts were…if I was an athlete how disappointed I would be with the accommodation and secondly why the hell would I spend stupid money on a glorified Council block.
It’s a shame because the Games were actually received really well by the public, there was such a buzz.
On a side note, I was in Birmingham City centre last night for a family meal at Dishoom. It is located right by the Town hall and sitting there you are exposed to the beauty of the old buildings whilst embracing the diversity of the City.
Stratford pre-Olympic regeneration was pretty similar, no? And yet that worked out pretty well, with units in the development going for upwards of a million.
No but they approved the business case. It might have been crap but it fooled a lot of people did it not?
Savills fault too now then?
I guess where I’m going with this is that the UK is really crap at big infrastructure projects. This is another. Discusdoon for another time perhaps
Nothing unique in that. Local governments piss more money at consultancies than I can care to imagine. They are really bereft of a lot of expertise these days.
Last time I was in that field many thought it was a good idea to set up blue/white collar contracts. Company I used to work for essentially used those contracts to print money. Internally there was huge friction at the project management level. Senior management couldnt care less, and I quote, “i dont want to hear it, we’re making too much money.” I left because of it.
Hang on a second, only a couple of posts ago you were blaming Covid for BCC’s failure to deliver the Athletes village as planned. But now it’s because the UK is crap at delivering infrastructure projects…
You state that Central Government approved BCC’s business case and were fooled, so much so, that they provided £500m+ in funding for the project.
We agree that the project was mismanaged and that the Council isn’t well run.
So do you share my concerns about Labours plans to merge/centralise authorities and give these authorities increased powers on their spending?
And no? It is not Savills fault. I have been quite clear from the offset as to who is at fault… I was just highlighting the obscene amounts of money spent on consultants, who got it wrong. But as you have brought the point up, what did the Council actually get for its £650k?
I still am, and we are discussing the business and how that could have ALSO been flawed. Yet it was good enough to secure a lot of central hovernment funding.
Its possible to have both you know.
Regarding consultants fees I’m not surprised as I indicated. It’s become normal practice and the numbers are eye-watering and I agree its crap.
And we’re discussing this without a single eye on the business case, covid contract impacts (although we know they were significant) and what the consultants brief wash and how the overall projectvwas managed.
Taking it wider, the UK is crap at large infrastructure projects. HS2, Hinkley Point C, CrossRail and so on. All delivered or being delivered way above the initial budget and late. Projects rife with planning issues, poor cost estimates, late design changes etc.
Another one to the list is the A303 Stone Henge. I knew people working on that nearly 25 years ago. Reeves knocked it on the head late last year again.
He is the incoming President of the USA and Starmer is the Prime Minister of the UK. He has to make positive noises about working together and a strong partnership and all that. Starmer can’t say ‘I think he is a stupid fat fuck’
Of course he cannot say that, but equally he could set out the UK’s interests and the importance of reciprocity in maintaining the ‘special relationship’
So the Southport killer was reported to Prevent 3 times, I see.
Wondering if the mob will target the Tories for this appalling failure? I mean…they were as much to blame as the immigrants in hotels, surely? Or maybe the NHS for failing to provide proper mental health support?
