Bam Nuttall bags £76m Olympic park rebuild job

The Olympic Park Legacy Company has appointed Bam Nuttall to spearhead the rebuilding of the Olympic park after the Games, with the civils contractor bagging two contracts worth £76m.

Bam, which will be tasked with overseeing the clearing and preparing of the park for its post-Games life, saw off competition from Balfour Beatty, Carillion, Lend Lease, Skanska and Volker Fitzpatrick.

The appointment comes as the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) prepares to pre-qualify contractors for the £95m rebuild of the Olympic stadium.

Bam’s contract to “clear, connect and complete” the park includes the removal of a number of temporary venues; the transformation of 30 canal bridges; the doubling of the amount of parkland; and the installation of new facilities, such as a one-mile cycle track.

Bam will control and secure the park for the wider £292m post-Games transformation, with the contractors engaged in rebuilding venues post Games reporting to the firm. Bam will report to project manager Mace under two NEC target cost contracts, worth £49m for the north of the park and £27m for the south.

Colin Naish, executive director of infrastructure at the OPLC, said the tight timescales for re-opening the park, with the north part due to open in the summer of 2013 and the south part in spring 2014, meant the job would be as challenging as the Olympic build itself. He said this will also rely on receiving the park from Games-organiser LOCOG in the state agreed.

“If there was no risk it wouldn’t be fun,” he said.

This week Sir John Armitt, chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), told Building the closure of the park could prove controversial.

“There will be a lot of frustration if it takes too long. I can see the Evening Standard headlines now if, nine months after the Games have finished, it’s still not open,” he said.

The OPLC is still to tie down the details of the reconstruction of a number of the venues and park spaces. Sixteen bidders had registered their interest to run the £438m Olympic stadium by this week’s deadline.

Naish said contractors wishing to bid for the stadium job will be asked to complete pre-qualification questionnaires “before Easter”, meaning stadium-builder Sir Robert McAlpine will have to compete against an open field for the job.

Meanwhile, Duncan Innes, OPLC executive director of real estate, told the Greater London Authority this week that the rebuilding of the £289m press and broadcast centre after the Games would cost at least £100m.The OPLC has shortlisted three firms to run the media centres, but Innes said: “There is probably £100m investment in getting the buildings in shape for any of the [shortlisted] propositions.”

Naish said it was not yet decided if the OPLC or the eventual operator would lead procurement of the work.