The London Development Agency, English Partnerships and Olympic bid team London 2012 are meeting developers to work out how to adapt the healthcare model for possible use in funding the regeneration of the Lea Valley.
LIFTs – Local Improvement Finance Trusts – have evolved as a way of procuring a large number of small public sector jobs with a single tender. They are best known in the health sector, where they are used to allow consortiums to win a large number of GP surgeries and primary healthcare clinics with a single bid.
In healthcare LIFTs, the private sector contributes 60% of the funds and the public sector 40%.
LDA development director Gareth Blacker said the model was being looked at for the long-term regeneration of the Lea Valley.
LIFT is seen as a way of getting private funds regardless of whether London wins the games
It is understood that a LIFT would not be needed for specific facilities but rather as a regeneration strategy for the Lea Valley as a whole, regardless of whether the games were awarded to London.
James Bulley, director of infrastructure at London 2012, said all the money required for facilities such as the main stadium was to be paid from a £2.4bn pot provided by central government grant, lottery money and council tax.
One regeneration insider said government agencies and the Olympic bid team were still trying to work out how to apply LIFT to regeneration.
He said: "For it to be successful, it needs to combine all types of social and physical infrastructure – schools, hospitals, land reclamation and so on. Each has its own central government funding stream."
However, he added that the LIFT model was well-regarded as it could provide a standardised model for procurement in other growth areas.
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