It seems that no UK contractor wants to build the Zaha Hadid-designed Olympic pool.

HBG, Carillion, Costain, Skanska, Wates, Shepherd, Kier, Galliford Try, Taylor Woodrow, Norwest Holst have all ruled themselves out.

Apparently the design by the award-winning architect is too complex. But not for overseas contractors: Bouygues and Hochtief are reportedly preparing to bid.

It’s hard to believe that we have not got the construction expertise to price and build a complicated structure such as Hadid’s Aquatics Centre. What this situation really shows is how risk-averse contractors are becoming. Last month, Wates announced that it had trebled profits by focusing on ‘the right customer, the right project, the right procurement and the right approach to risk’, according to chairman and chief executive Paul Dreschler.

The Aquatics Centre, with its distinctive roof, will be situated at the entrance to the Olympic Park in Stratford and will continue as a 2,500-seat swimming venue after the Games, when temporary seating has been removed.

This isn’t the first time that a Zaha Hadid-designed building has scared off contractors.

Laing O’Rourke, Carillion, Balfour Beatty, Sir Robert McAlpine and Bovis Lend lease all backed down from tendering for her Museum of Transport in Glasgow (pictured above, right), claiming it was impossible to price. HBG won the preparatory works phase, and the main contract is due to be awarded within the next few months.

Source

Construction Manager

Postscript

Good news from below ground on the Olympics. Murphy’s first tunnel to carry power lines under the site has broken through and the ODA says that the £231m contract is on time and on budget. The four tunnels, 3km long, should be complete by mid-2007. Some demolition and clearance is under way, and will include taking down the 52 electricity pylons made redundant by the tunnels, and demolition of two tower blocks. Remediation will follow.