Bertie Bowl (and Bath) costs!

unison.ie

Revealed: cost spiral that buried the Bowl

A SWINGEING cost increase was the crucial factor which persuaded the Government to abandon the National Stadium.

Ministers were told the original estimated price for an 80,000-seat stadium had almost doubled although the seating capacity had been reduced by 15,000.

They were warned that the £350m figure (€444m) originally submitted by former Campus Stadium Ireland chairman Paddy Teahon for an 80,000 seater should now be revised to €700m for a 65,000 seater.

This was the key finding of Davis Langdon PKS, the consultants engaged to assess and price the various options for the Government.

The initial specification was for an 80,000 all-seater stadium with retractable roof but Davis Langdon focussed on a stripped-down 65,000 capacity alternative.

The new projections were the first time the scaled-down option had been fully costed. All previous claims about the cost by the CSID development company related to the bigger stadium.

Ministers were taken aback at the new cost implications for the construction of a smaller stadium at Abbotstown - which rose even further when set in alternative locations, such as the inner city.

The costings made it clear that Abbotstown remained the "most cost effective" site for any stadium.

Thus the Government invitation for private interests to become involved now specifies only Abbotstown as the location.

Meanwhile, a leading British firm, Laing Construction, has emerged as a possible candidate to build a stadium by 2006.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is aware of the interest of Laing, which is expected to be among the interested parties after the Government places advertisements seeking offers of private funding for the stadium.

The new stadium would be a private-public partnership with the State providing the 500-acre site at Abbotstown.

Laing built the 72,000-seater Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and oversaw the construction of the City of Manchester Stadium, which hosted the Commonwealth Games and will be the new home for Manchester City from August next year.

That stadium was built at a cost of stg£77m and had an initial capacity of 38,000 which is being increased now to 48,000.

Davis Langdon PKS, the agency which prepared the new figures for Cabinet, has impressed the Government through its project management of the €63.5m National Aquatic Centre at the Abbotstown site.

The "Bertie Bath", as it has been dubbed, is ahead of schedule and will be completed in the next two months. More importantly it has remained steadfastly on budget and will not require any top-up funding.

The Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism said yesterday no decision had yet been taken on the possible release of the report to Cabinet. The report to Cabinet also drew attention to the logistical problems associated with building a stadium on various inner city sites.

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63.5 m spent on a big swimming pool!
700m (excluding land) estimated cost for 65k seater stadium!

Shows what was said all along that Teahon lied that 80k seater stadium could be built for £350m!

Seen also in the paper today that that they've spend apporx 500m+ (includes GAA & FAI grants) already on Bertie Bowl without anything to show for:

250m to move state laboratories
20m to "consultants"

Remember where the money went less money in your pay packets or price of pint gone up in the Student Bar. ;)