London Olympic Stadium cost 'could rise to £547m'

The cost of the 2012 Olympic Stadium could soar to £547m (€624m), the British government admitted today.

The original budget for the showpiece venue was put at £496m (€565m) in November 2007, while the original estimate in 2004, when London was bidding for the Games, put the cost at £282m (€321m).

By September 2008 this figure had shot up to £525m (€599m), and the credit crunch and structural changes to the roof have added a potential £22m (€25.1m) to the bill from the public purse.

The figures are included in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s annual report on the £9.3bn (€10.6bn) Olympic project, which also states there are “emerging pressures” on venues for the 2012 Games.

The forecasted costs for building the Olympic park venues are predicted to rise by £196m (€223.5m) from November 2007 to 2012.

Organisers believe they can save £193m (€220m) elsewhere and say that £63m (€71.8m) in savings has already been made.

Overall this means that £3m (€3.42m) extra would be spent, but organisers say this would easily be absorbed by the £2bn (€2.28bn) contingency.