The new £850m (US$1.1bn) Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which was scheduled to open in August 2018, might not be ready until early 2019 or even later according to anonymous sources working on the plagued project.
In an interview with trade website Construction News, an anonymous source who is involved in the build claims that workforce at the site “has been reduced and work has slowed”, with suggestions completion could be delayed until at least January 2019.
The source even goes as far as claiming they would not be surprised if the English Premier League soccer club “wrote off the season” and remained playing in alternative venues until next season, such as Wembley Stadium, which is where it is currently playing its home matches.
“The numbers have been cut significantly,” the source was quoted by Construction News. “Lots of the companies on there have sent their people to other projects. But the job is coming along at a good pace now. It’s gone from about fourth gear down to about second gear, now it’s just idling. But it’s ticking along.”
In more optimistic news, the report claims that construction manager Mace and its sub-constructors have more senior project managers on the build site and are spending more time on detail as opposed to “a lot of corner-cutting [before the delay]”, which they claim will ultimately offer a greater product despite the longer wait.
However, in response to the Construction News article Tottenham Hotspur FC refuted the claims and a spokesperson told Sky Sports: “We have always said that we would issue updates for test events and official opening as soon as we have confidence in our project managers’ and contractors’ ability to deliver against the revised scheduled of works.
“This remains the case and speculating on unsupported dates such as this is irresponsible.”
September 20, 2018
