Plans for £500m Commonwealth Games village pulled

Organisers of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games have cancelled plans to house athletes and officials at a new facility being developed by Lendlease.

There have been growing concerns about the project with the council’s audit committee giving the Commonwealth Games Village (CGV) a red risk-rating last week meaning that there is a high level of concern about the programme.

The council said last month that an analysis of Lendlease’s job to build the athletes village (pictured) was being carried out to work out the impact of coronavirus on the schedule.

In June, Building revealed that the department for digital culture, media and sport had been brought in as part of the review.

But it has now been announced athletes and officials will be housed across three sites at the University of Birmingham, the University of Warwick and the NEC Hotel Campus.

This new campus model will see 1,600 athletes and officials housed at the NEC Hotel Campus, 1,900 at Warwick university and the principal village with 2,800 at Birmingham university.

The council has said the coronavirus pandemic was the final straw and meant the project would not be delivered in time for the Games.

It said: "It follows an assessment by the project delivery team, who has been working with the construction supply chain, as well as independent experts, on how they could de-risk Games delivery.

"With a shorter than normal timeframe for delivery of the Birmingham 2022 Games, the new build accommodation site was under continued review from the outset, with expert consultation throughout, and had very little scope to withstand the impact covid-19 has had on construction."

The Perry Barr Regeneration Scheme, which is being built by Lendlease, with new housing and transport infrastructure, will still be delivered, organisers added. 

The village was supposed to accommodate around 6,500 athletes and officials during the games before being turned into a mixed-use development featuring more than 1,100 homes.

The building packages on the project have been subcontracted out to several major contractors, with both Willmott Dixon and Kier working at the site.