London 2012 bosses cost taxpayer £87m

Wed, 23/07/2008 - 09:30

Events | United Kingdom | Event Management | Summer Olympics

The consultants given the task of keeping down the bill for the 2012 London Olympics cost the taxpayer £87 million in the last financial year, a government report has revealed.

According to UK newspaper, The Times, the CLM’s fee accounted for 15 per cent of the £563 million spent by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) in the previous financial year.

Staff costs at the ODA, the government agency building the infrastructure for the 2012 Games, increased by 36 per cent year on year, from £18.7 million to £29.2 million whilst the pay packages of senior managers, jumped by between 10 per cent and 15 per cent. The highest-paid director was David Higgins, the Australian chief executive, formerly of English Partnerships, who was paid £624,000, including performance-related bonuses. He is due to receive additional bonuses in August in line with key construction targets that have been met ahead of schedule.

The lowest-paid member of the eight-strong senior management team at the ODA was paid £243,000. The director of design and regeneration received £290,000, compared with £204,000 for nine months of the previous year.

ODA chairman, John Armitt, said: “This is a project without precedent. The remuneration of the senior management team reflects the scale of this challenge and is consistent with industry market levels. It also reflects the good progress that has been made in preparing the Olympic Park site in the last year. We have started construction early and are on track.”

The ODA added that it needed to pay top salaries to attract “high-calibre” managers from all over the world for a multibillion construction programme, which cannot overrun because there is a fixed deadline. The budget is agreed with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Read all Latest News stories