Two left in 2012 media centre

Teams led by Bouygues and Carillion are battling it out to build the Olympic media centre after it emerged that Balfour Beatty was no longer on the shortlist.

The consortiums Bouygues with Development Securities, and Carillion with regeneration investor Igloo are the only two remaining from an original shortlist of four.

It is understood that Norwest Holst and Rosemound left the list this month, and the team of Balfour Beatty and Babcock & Brown is also understood not to have made the final cut.

A source close to the process said it was likely that the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) did not want Balfour Beatty to build the media centre and the aquatics centre, for which it is the sole remaining bidder.

The contract to build the 1.3 million ft2 media centre is due to be awarded by mid-November.

The ODA would not confirm that Balfour Beatty was no longer on the shortlist. A spokesperson said: “We give bidders an assurance of confidentiality and have no intention of breaching that.”

Meanwhile, it has emerged that Olympic chiefs are considering building a green visitor centre for the Olympic park to showcase sustainable construction.

It is understood that the building would be zero carbon equivalent to level six of the Code for Sustainable Homes. It is likely to be built with sustainable materials and contain a biomass boiler and photovoltaics.

A source said: “It wasn’t initially in the masterplan, but there was always talk about showing the best in sustainable construction. It’s at the ideas stage.”

Sustainability at the Games was in the spotlight this week as the Olympic transport plan was unveiled. There will be no private car parking for spectators at any venue, except disabled patrons. Plans for park-and-ride car parks on the M11 and M25 have been shelved.

The ODA published a sustainability strategy in January, announcing it would put on the “greenest Olympics ever”.