Funding struggles hit Olympic media centre

Funding struggles have hit a second London 2012 venue, with Olympic chiefs admitting to problems with the finances of the media centre.

Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) chairman John Armitt said developer Carillion Igloo was struggling to raise finance to help build the £400m centre.

It is the second funding struggle for the Games, with village developer Lend Lease also having problems raising money to fund its share of the £1bn development.

Armitt said: “Fundamentally, we originally expected to have quite big sums of private sector funding for the Olympic village and for the media centre.

“The consequence of what is happening in the markets means that the availability of funding is more difficult – that is not to say that it is not available but, if it is available, it is available on harsh terms.

The Financial Times report the finance problems means the ODA will have to draw on the £2bn contingency fund included in the overall budget of £9.3bn.