Olympics: London's major venues hit by delays

London’s Olympic stadium and aquatic centre have been hit by months of delays.

Olympic chiefs have put back the completion dates for the stadium by three months and the aquatic centre by five months.

Documents seen by the Evening Standard show the £496m stadium, to be built by Team McAlpine, will not be completed until April 2011 and the £303m Balfour Beatty pool complex by August 2011.

The newspaper reported the Olympic Delivery Authority would give no explanation for the changes to the timetable, but that deadlines for fitting out the venues were unaffected.

The delays have raised fresh concerns that contractors might raise their prices to deliver the venues on time.

The news co-incided with the ODA's announcement that worked had started on the stadium site yesterday - three months earlier than expected.