By Andrew Warshaw
February 16 – Steve Lawrence (pictured), the architect who who wrote the original masterplan for the London Olympics and Paralympics, has identified himself as the mystery figure behind the anonymous complaint to the European Union Commission which scuppered West Ham United’s hopes of moving to the Olympic Stadium after the Games.
Over 10 years ago, Lawrence was commissioned by Stratford Development Partnership to carry out an alternative feasibility study for the Olympics once it became clear that Wembley would never be a viable location for the Games.
He proposed that any venue in Stratford should, after the Games, be shared by Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United as anchor tenants.
The idea was rejected and last year, West Ham were granted sole tenancy after striking a funding deal with Newham Council.
Rival bidders Tottenham and Leyton Orient launched a judicial review against that decision, claiming a £40 million loan from Newham amounted to unfair state aid.
The Government then cited the subsequent anonymous complaint to the EU as the reason for the West Ham deal collapsing.
Lawrence says this was not the whole story.
“I identified the problem very early on at the beginning of 2011,” he explained.
“If it had been dealt with properly and had they listened I wouldn’t have needed to make the complaint.
“My feeling is that they used the complaint as an excuse for pulling out in advance of the judicial review as they knew they were going to lose.”
In December last year, the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) opened a new tender process for bidders.
Tottenham, in the meantime, withdrew their interest and have decided to concentrate on building a new stadium next to their present ground in North London.
The successful bidder is expected to be announced in May but Lawrence is worried the whole process could result in a monstrous white elephant.
He has long insisted the required joint athletics-football legacy simply won’t work and would never generate the cash needed to make the stadium sustainable.
” In its present form with athletics only, it’s definitely not viable,” he said.
“As things stand we will be supporting the Olympic Stadium for the next 100 years.
Lawrence’s solution would be to build an athletics stadium where the warm up track will be – and allow the Stadium to be converted to football-only use, possibly with West Ham and Leyton Orient groundsharing.
“My recommendation is to take a step back, take a good look at it and then I think we can wind up with a genuine legacy,” he told Sky Sports News.
“I care a great deal about the project.
“It’s a project I started in the first place and I want the legacy in East London to last for generations.”
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