Tim Worstall

Wembley Stadium

The Wembley Stadium fiasco looks like it will run and run. Now the lawyers are getting into it.

The Daily Telegraph can exclusively reveal that the Multiplex claim is
meant to mark the start of litigation and, should it go to court, could
take three years to resolve. Multiplex, I understand, will refuse to
hand over the keys of the stadium to Wembley National Stadium Ltd — an
FA subsidiary — until the courts rule on their claim.

The son in law is actually working on the stadium. So far he’s had a year’s worth of extra work out of it and from his reports, there’s no sign of the extra work disappearing. It isn’t despite intimations here, ready to hand over, even if the lawyers were not involved. For a start, according to his reports at least, the entire sewage system needs replacing as it was badly laid in the beginning.

In

4 responses

  1. Bob B Avatar
    Bob B

    Besides Wembley, what is it about managing large public projects in Britain?
    “The government has added to its litany of computer system cock-ups with a £300 million system at the Ministry of Defence which has had to be overhauled.”
    http://www.theregister.com/2001/11/08/government_cocks_up_another_computer/
    “Auditors are to launch another inquiry into the £6.8bn NHS IT upgrade project. The National Audit Office only reported in June on the scheme to link 30,000 GPs with 300 hospitals in England, Computer Weekly magazine says.”
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5313974.stm
    “The government announced yesterday that it is abandoning the use of private finance initiatives for computer projects after a string of blunders across Whitehall. High-profile PFI projects which have run into problems include new IT systems for the child support agency and the criminal records bureau.”
    http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,3604,998873,00.html
    Heaven protect us against overspends on the London Olympics 2012.

    Reply
  2. Northern Monkey Avatar
    Northern Monkey

    Not sure if this is a form of insider trading but Betfair have a market to bet on if Wembley will be in use for certain FA Cup finals. 2007 or 2008 I think.
    Hmm a Lay bet seems interesting for 2007…

    Reply
  3. Neil Craig Avatar
    Neil Craig

    Good point Bob. There was a recent letter in the Scotsman by an engineer pointing out that a tunnel could be built under the River Forth for about 1/4 the cost of a new bridge basing his costing on £20 million proven costs in Norway.The powers that be declined to respond & I suspect that apart from the NIH factor they didn’t think we could build tunnels at the same cost.
    Still at least the Scottish Parliament didn’t need to rebuild the sewage system. All things considered that could have been expensive 🙂

    Reply
  4. The Pedant's Apprentice Avatar
    The Pedant’s Apprentice

    Shouldn’t that be “sewerage”, to wit, the tubes down which …..?

    Reply

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