2012 Games stadium design revealed
The design for the 2012 Olympic stadium is due be unveiled.
The £496m structure, which has jumped in price from the £280m estimated in 2004 when London was bidding for the Games, will stand at the heart of the Olympic Park. It is being billed as a design representing a new era for Olympic stadium design.
Building work on the stadium is set to begin up to three months ahead of schedule in April or May, with completion in 2011 to allow for test events, the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) said.
The showpiece 80,000-seater stadium in Stratford, east London, will be scaled down to a 25,000-seat capacity venue after the Games.
It will then become a multi-purpose venue with athletics as a major use, but no anchor tenant has been found.
West Ham had been tipped as a possible tenant but the idea of them or any Premiership football club moving in after the Games has now been ruled out.
Original cost estimates did not include VAT, inflation, legacy costs and earthworks, according to the ODA.
So far, 20 out of 33 buildings on the site have been demolished and 600,000 tonnes of soil taken away in preparing the ground for building.
The stadium build is being led by construction firm Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd in a partnership including architects HoK Sport and consulting engineers Buro Happold.
