Just to update on the story below which I published in the Estates Gazette on Saturday revealing that the NAO is to undertake a thorough review of the government's aborted deals with private sector for the development of the Olympic village and media centre.
There are plenty of theories about why the NAO is specifically reviewing these deals alongside the various land deals completed by the ODA across the country - and a lot of them I would be foolhardy to print.
Suffice to say that King Sturge's appointment means this is going to be a particularly thorough examination of how competently the negotiations were carried out and given the money that has been spent by the public that can only be a good thing. I think the NAO report will make for very interesting reading at the beginning of next year any way.
Here's the story:
The National Audit Office is to carry out a forensic review of work carried out by the Olympic Delivery Authority to buy land to make way for the 2012 Games.
It has appointed King Sturge's head of public sector advisory consultancy, Richard Haynes, to advise on a review of all ODA property matters, including an audit of the land deals carried out to deliver sites for the Games across the UK, and its aborted deals with the private sector to fund the 2012 Athletes Village and the 1m sq ft Media Centre.
A spokesman for the NAO confirmed King Sturge's appointment, and said that the review would "examine the events which led to the government's decision to pay for two of the London 2012 programme's biggest projects - the Olympic Village and the Media Centre - out of the public purse when both projects were expected to be privately financed".
The ODA selected Lend Lease as development partner for the £1.1bn Olympic Village in 2007.
But the developer's offer of a £375m financing package for the village was rejected by the government as "not in the best interests of the taxpayer".
It is now employed on a fee basis as contractor.
Negotiations with Media Centre partners Carillion and Igloo to provide funds for half of the £355m development also collapsed.
A spokesman for the ODA described the review as a "routine NAO audit".
A senior property industry Olympic insider said: "To a certain extent, what has happened has been market driven.
"But it is possible the NAO will find that the ODA was naïve in accepting private sector assurances that financing was available for the projects."
King Sturge's work will form part of a wider review by the NAO, to be published in early 2010, looking at how the government agency is managing the effects of the economic downturn on building new venues and infrastructure.
It comes after a recent City Hall backed KPMG audit of the London Development Agency's acquisition of land, to make way for the 500-acre Olympics Park in east London, revealed a £159.8m black hole in the LDA accounts.
As a result, two members of the LDA's Olympic Legacy Directorate have been suspended.
The ODA's property team is headed by Ralph Luck, a former English Partnerships director.
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