2012 whitewater canoe course doubles in cost to £30million

THE COST of an artificial whitewater canoe course for the London Olympics has almost doubled to £30 million, the Standard can reveal.

Games chiefs are expected this month to approve the new budget for the 2012 venue to be built in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire.

The 20-hectare site, currently used as an overflow car park for adjacent showgrounds, will be transformed when building work starts in May.

It will consist of a large artificial lake made of concrete connected to two loops.The Olympic loop will form part of a 300metre competition course with a 5.5metre drop between its highest and lowest point compared with a 1.6metre drop on a second intermediary course.

Course designers will add obstacles made of natural stone, concrete and moveable plastic units for the 2012 event. Millions of gallons of water will be sourced from underground and pumped around the course.

Funding for the venue will come from the East England Development Agency (£4 million), Sport England (£1 million), and the Lea Valley Regional Park Authority (£6 million), with the remainder coming from the Olympic Delivery Authority. The expected budget is almost double the estimate given in the candidate file submitted in 2004 of £16 million.The Lea Valley authority will manage the venue after 2012 and its investment covers the cost of the so-called "legacy loop" for intermediary use.

Olympics chiefs are concerned that the venue could become a white elephant after the Games. After the Athens Olympics, the water was drained from its whitewater canoe venue and has been a financial burden to the city ever since. In contrast, the canoe venue for the Sydney Olympics has been well used and attracted new people to the sport.

Key to the legacy of the Broxbourne venue is the intermediary loop designed for canoeists, kayakers and rafters. A permanent two-storey clubhouse will be built for the 2012 Games and provide changing facilities, accommodation and a café.

The British Canoe Union is in talks to relocate its elite squad after 2012 to Broxbourne from its base at Holme Pierrepoint in Nottinghamshire.

BCU chief executive Paul Owen said: "Prior to the Olympics we had been looking for a site for years within the M25 because people in the southeast have had to travel such as long way to a venue. After most Olympics the white water venue has been well used with the exception of Athens."

Olympics chiefs relocated the venue to the Broxbourne showgrounds after the original site - also in Broxbourne - was considered too expensive too decontaminate.

The whitewater course hosts four Olympic events in canoe and kayak with competitors racing along a 300m course on turbulent rapids through up to 25 slalom gates. Great Britain has won a canoe slalom medal at four of the last five Olympics with David Florence winning silver in the men's singles in Beijing.

An ODA spokesman said: "We are currently procuring a construction company for the white water canoe centre in Broxbourne so the cost of the venue remains commercially sensitive but will be delivered from within the ODA's existing venues budget. We expect to award the Broxbourne construction contract in March allowing work to start on site in May, keeping us firmly on-track to deliver new world-class facilities in good time for the Games."