June 2010 Archives

I caught up with Andrew Altman, chief executive of the Olympic Park Legacy Company, at an Estates Gazette development summit this afternoon.

I managed to grab him for a couple of minutes on camera - so for those that have not met him, here he is.

He was upbeat about the project but refused to be drawn on the finer details of the masterplan framework he is finalising for the park at present.

Some good coverage of the Olympic Legacy plans in and around Stratford this week in something of a bumper Olympic edition from Regeneration and Renewal .

Among this however there is one area that appears to have been slightly over-egged - the thorny old issue of the transferral of the LDA's land at the Olympic Park and the associated debt to the Olympic Park Legacy Company.

Following on from a post earlier this week on the Rooff Olympics land CPO case I feel duty bound to pass on a snippet from EG's legal correspondent who was at the High Court to witness the opening salvos.

Apparently a diplomatic incident was narrowly avoided.

Any one with a passing interest in the Olympics development will no doubt have been concerned by the story in The Guardian earlier this week about potential issues around the disposal of radioactive waste removed from the Olympic site.

The story follows on from one that has been circling for some time that is based on information contained in a dossier of documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by campaigner Mike Wells and analyst Paul Charman.

What could prove to be a highly significant Olympics land wrangle is being discussed again in the High Court.

It's one I have focused on previously as the financial implications for the London Development Agency or its offspring are quite large.

The story written for EGi News appears below, but suffice to say if the Court backs building group Rooff's appeal millions of pounds could be added to the public sector bill. Here it is:

Just to say I've written a piece about a significant deal that is being discussed around ownership of the Olympic Village in this Saturday's Estates Gazette.

Here is the story:

A quick note repeating some positive comments about how greatly east London will benefit from the Olympic Games made this morning by one of the UK's foremost thinkers on urban regeneration.
I was at a British Property Federation "Movers and Shakers" Breakfast where architect Lord Rogers was interviewed about various things including the legacy the Olympics development will leave for east London.

The Olympic Park Legacy Company confirmed this morning that it would take ownership of east London's 3 Mills Studios from the London Development Agency, paving the way for significant development fronting east London's Olympic Park - both before and after the Games.

This morning the OPLC and LOCOG confirmed too that the studios site would be used as a production centre for the London 2012 Ceremonies Team, and a base from where the Victory Ceremonies and Torch Relays will be produced during the Games.

My colleague Bridget O'Connell spent a glamour packed evening at the Olympics site on Monday night. She helpfully forwarded some pictures which provide a decent update on how things are shaping up. I am told Tracey Emin was on abrasive form by the way.

Two highly significant political developments at the Olympics site this week.

The much-trailed plans to give mayor of London Boris Johnson greater powers over land and development in the capital are set to be unveiled today according to the FT.

Among the many significant implications of this for the property and regeneration sectors is the proposal for Johnson to take greater control of the Olympic legacy, with the Olympic Park Legacy Company reformed as a mayoral development corporation reporting directly to the mayor.

The BBC's Adrian Warner has blogged that concert producer Live Nation is one of the parties interested in operating the 2012 Olympics stadium post Games.

Warner says the company runs about 140 venues around the world and puts on 20,000 concerts each year and also wants to take over the handball indoor arena to host concerts all year round.

Another interesting bit of business has been done close to the Olympics site.

I am reliably informed that the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation has bought two parcels of land immediately north and south of Hackney Wick station from administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The two acres of land was previously owned by Sir Alan Sugar's buddy Paul Kemsley before the collapse of his Rock Investments compnay.

It's all gone a little quiet on the mooted Olympic Legacy Development Corporation front just now.
There had been some expectation that the Queen's Speech would make reference to Tory plans to give City Hall ultimate control of the Olympic Park Legacy Company and to create a Development Corporation with planning powers for the site - much like the London Docklands Development Corporation that was et up in 1981 to bring forward the development of Canary Wharf.
There was no announcement though and the Emergency Budget is not expected to say much about it either.
That it will happen is pretty clear however. Less clear is exactly how far its powers will extend.

Just a note to say that further to writing last week about Westfield's interest in building the UK's first "large" casino at the Stratford City site, the full list of applicants can now be disclosed.
Newham council has supplied a helpful list of applicants which reveals that the Borough's key development sites are vying for the development opportunity.
Westfield and Damian Aspinall's Aspers Group are the only partners to have publicly thrown their hat into the ring ahead of the 26 May deadline for initial expressions of interest.
That's no doubt because there are few complications around assembling their site - it's up and running after all.
However, Newham received five other initial expressions of interest.