2012 Raids Contingency Fund To Up Security

The organisers of the London 2012 Olympics have released £19m from contingency funds to make Olympic venues more secure from terrorist attacks – a move that the Government has stated will not affect the overall £7.234bn budget for the Games.

The latest London 2012 quarterly economic report, released ahead of next week’s events to mark three years until the opening ceremony, says preparations for the Olympics remain on time and on budget.

The only new release of cash from the £2 bn contingency fund has been the £19 million for security ‘to allow modifications to the Olympic Park venues to make them more secure and resilient to attacks’.

So far £700m of contingency funds have been issued but organisers hope £324m of that will be recouped after the Games by selling off the Olympic Village as apartments. There still remains £1.272bn unallocated in contingency funding, more than the assessed risks.

Work started on Monday on the handball arena ahead of schedule, meaning construction is now under way on all permanent venues.