Olympic minister says £25m rise was caused by 'poor ground conditions'
The £25m rise in the budget for the Olympic velodrome was caused by “poor ground conditions”, Tessa Jowell has said.
In answer to a parliamentary question from shadow Olympics minister Hugh Robertson, Jowell said contamination levels were more extensive than originally assessed.
The problem had been exacerbated by a decision to move the velodrome slightly to the west as part of a masterplan review in 2007.
She said: “The level of contamination on this site was more extensive than originally assessed and this contributed to the overall increase of £25m in the Velopark budget to £105m.
“Once the full extent of the ground conditions was known, design and ground modelling studies were undertaken which produced an accurate estimate of the potential costs.”
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