Olympic chiefs wary of T5-style sparks deal

Olympic leaders will demand that electricians and plumbers work harder on London 2012 sites than they did at Heathrow’s T5.

Games chiefs are due to hold talks this month with backers of the Major Projects Agreement (MPA) who want to see the deal cover all M&E work at the Olympics.

The agreement is designed to reward increased productivity and stable industrial relations among electricians with industry-leading wage rates of more than £50,000.

The MPA has only previously been used at T5, but London 2012 officials remain to be convinced the agreement provides a good deal for the client.

One Olympic source said: “We are trying to get some sort of deal going, but it won’t be the same as the T5 agreement. We will want to see real improvements in output for the money.”

Backers of the MPA are confident of signing a deal despite reservations among London 2012 leaders.

An MPA source said: “The ODA has been wary of the agreement because it has only been used on the one job so far.

“That might have been different if it had been used on a few other jobs, but that hasn’t been the case.

“I don’t think the ODA will use it exactly as it was employed at T5, but hopefully it will use elements of it and will want to tweak and change parts of it – that’s how things evolve.”

The MPA name may also be dropped on any deal agreed for the Olympics.

The source said: “They may not even call it the MPA, however, it won’t be very different in terms of its content.”

Talks are continuing this month over the MPA, and its supporters are hoping to strike a deal by Christmas.

One said: “The first M&E work will start next autumn so we need something in place in plenty of time for that.

“We don’t have to sell the agreement to the ODA because construction director Howard Shiplee knows BAA’s capital projects director Andrew Wolstenholme very well and he knows all about the benefits.”

An ODA spokesman said: “We have had exploratory discussions around the MPA,” but denied it was sceptical about its merits.

An independent study of the agreement at T5 revealed that 88% of people involved in the project thought the MPA has been beneficial on the job.

MPA Forum chairman Sir Michael Latham said: “The study provides tangible evidence that the Major Projects Agreement is delivering positive benefits to the Terminal 5 Project.

“The introduction of the MPA has not been without its challenges, but I would like to think that this study will help other clients to consider the positive benefits to be gained from the MPA on major projects.”