Dennis Hone, English Partnerships' chief operating officer, is quitting the organisation to join his old boss David Higgins at the Olympic Delivery Authority, barely a month after he was appointed.

Hone is to become finance director at the ODA. A chartered accountant by training he is expected to work up the "roof tax" proposal that the ODA is considering to help bridge the Olympics funding gap (19 May, page 12). Hone drew up the infrastructure tariffs that EP has developed in Bedford and Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire.

Hone is the third senior staff member of the regeneration quango's management team to leave to work on the Olympics delivery.

He follows in the footsteps of former chief executive Higgins and London and Thames Gateway director Ralph Luck.

The exodus has triggered concerns that wider regeneration efforts are being sidelined by the Games. But Nigel Smith, the chairman of the RICS' regeneration panel, said that it was understandable given that the Olympics was almost as big a project as EP's entire programme. "They are taking a lot of the talent, but it's a big job," he said.

John Callcutt, EP's chief executive, said: "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Dennis to be part of the Olympic Games and we are delighted for him personally."

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