Taxpayer may foot bill for media centre, Games chiefs admit

Olympics chiefs have admitted that the £300million media centre for the 2012 Games will probably have to be paid for by the taxpayer.

The Olympic Delivery Authority says there is little prospect of finding another private investor after it broke links with the original developer Igloo two months ago. Barclays bank was also part of the original deal.

The cash crisis means Olympic chiefs will almost certainly have to raid the £2billion contingency fund early in the new year.

Already ministers have approved £95million in emergency funds to keep the £900million Olympic village on track after that too struggled to raise private funding.

Chairman of the ODA, John Armitt, blamed the credit crunch for the lack of interest in funding the 1.5million sq ft media complex in Hackney Wick. He said: "There's much less interest at the moment from the private sector. It was always going to be public/private but it may now have to be 100 per cent public."

The cost of the media centre has been slashed from £380million to £300million in recent months.

However Mr Armitt said he had not given up the original plan of building a permanent structure, able to be split into smaller units to become a home to broadcast and media industries after the Games.

He said: "This is the one building within the Olympic complex which has the potential to provide jobs."

He confirmed that the media centre will not be scrapped after the Games, saying: "Temporary facilities always end up costing more than you think."

A final decision on funding and specifications for the centre will be made early next year.

The ODA has been considering alternatives to the Hackney Wick site and has held talks with developer Westfield about moving half the media complex to the Stratford City shopping centre.

2012 chiefs have come under pressure to justify the multi-billion-pound public project but Mr Armitt insisted it would prove its value in the years after the Games. He said: "What we're doing is creating a regeneration opportunity which only hosting the Games could have delivered."