£200m Aquatics Centre gets planning green light

Balfour Beatty will get underway this summer with the construction of the Olympic Delivery Authority’s £200m Aquatics Centre after the scheme was granted planning permission.

The independent Planning Committee for the Olympic Park approved plans for the 17,500-capacity structure after a thorough public consultation.

Work is due to start this summer following the removal of contaminated land and the creation of over 500m of new riverbank at the site.

The project has been in the headlines after plans for the structure had to be changed three times by architect Zaha Hadid in a bid to drive down costs on the project. The contract has risen in value from the initial £75m figure stated in the London 2012 bid document to £200m.