The London Mayor has appointed auditors Moore Stephens to conduct his investigation into the London Stadium transformation costs, the deal with West Ham and the ongoing operating costs.
The purpose of the investigation is listed as:
• To provide a narrative explanation of the history of the London Stadium, including all relevant construction, financial and operational arrangements, with a particular focus on the stadium’s conversion into a multi-use arena and the subsequent negotiations and arrangements
• To confirm the key decision points and contractual commitments made, including the financial and operational projections that informed the significant investment of public money into transformation works and who was responsible for them
• To assess whether the work leading to the decisions and commitments made was sufficiently robust and subject to appropriate levels of due diligence and negotiation to ensure that value for money was achieved for the taxpayer after taking into account the legacy objectives and expected benefits
• To report on the stadium’s financial viability in terms of an assessment of the ongoing and future operating costs and income of the current working arrangements
• To identify any lessons that can be learnt
• To work with all relevant organisations to obtain evidence for this work, reporting any lack of co-operation to the Mayor’s office
• To produce a report for publication.
The investigation and its resulting report will cover three distinct phases in the genesis and life of the Stadium:
1. The Olympic bodies’ original decision making in determining the design and nature of the Stadium built for the Games and what thought was given to how the Stadium would be used post-Games
2. The decision making of LLDC and its forebears in the tendering for and delivery of the Stadium transformation in light of the original design and its legacy objectives
3. Decisions pertaining to the current operational arrangement for the Stadium, including those made by LLDC, LB Newham and E20 Stadium LLP, and those taken by Her Majesty’s Government and the GLA such as hosting the 2015 Rugby World Cup and the 2017 World Athletics.
Moore Stephen’s project plan is for a draft report to be presented to the GLA in June 2017. The report will then be finalised and a public report made available to the public later in the summer.
They could do with adding a step where Leyton Orient, CAST and Tottenham did everything they could to scupper a deal and in Orient and Spuds cases try to improve their own financial situations in the process. Is it not curious how Hearn sold Orient the moment he realised they wouldn’t gain financially from frustrating the bidding process ? The results of the report should provide more deja vu for the press reporting on it, no doubt Dan Roan will do his usual narrow minded yet self important documentary on the subject citing West Ham as the cause of everything wrong in the whole thing and ignoring everything that is as obvious as pen1s on his forehead that might be the true cause. At the end of Khan’s vanity case there will likely be nothing gained other than highlighting the incompetence of the LLDC and no solution proposed to fix the escalating costs.
Spot on32,but hopefully it will lead to an offer of buying the stadium at a knock down price, say 50mill. They know they made a rick when they knocked us back last time. Now it’s become a hot potato. Any body remember the o2?