Warnings on cost rises were ignored: Japan stadium designers

The official tasked with overseeing construction of Japan’s new National Stadium, the centrepiece of the 2020 Summer Olympics, is set to resign after plans for the arena were scrapped amid an outcry over soaring costs.

Zaha Hadid Architects issued a lengthy statement on Tuesday blaming the bidding process and rocketing building costs in Tokyo for the price tag rising to an unprecedented $2 billion.

Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology announced Tuesday that a senior official in charge of the controversial construction of a new national stadium for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will step down, as public condemnation grows following the government flip- flopping on the stadium’s design plans.

Hadid’s futuristic design had intially been met with fury by many Japanese architects. The old structure that was built for 1964 Olympic Games has already been demolished and the government is now aiming to finish the construction work for the new stadium by the spring of 2020, which will allow minimum preparation time for giving a final touch before the Olympic flame reaches its designated stand. At the time Zaha Hadid’s design was unveiled, the only major sporting event slated for the new venue was the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

Bach stressed that the IOC would offer its own input in the tendering process to ensure the Olympic body is involved from the very beginning this time.

“Our warning was not heeded that selecting contractors too early in a heated construction market and without sufficient competition would lead to an overly high estimate of the cost of construction”, the statement added.

“There is a surge in prices for various construction material”.

“Although we have had the privilege to broadcast the Olympic Games for many years in MENA, our direct acquisition of the Olympics Games from the IOC fulfills our ambition of bringing all premium sports to our viewers in the region”. ZHA was not informed in advance of this announcement and we immediately contested this incorrect claim with the JSC. Bach will travel to Rio next week for the August. 5 ceremonies marking the one-year countdown to the games.

Zaha Hadid said it learned of the cancellation of the deal through news reports, and received a brief official notification from the Japan Sport Council afterward. According to the earlier plan of the Japan Sports Council, the opening of the 1919 World Cup Rugby was supposed to serve as the curtain raiser for the new national stadium.

Her office also urged Japan to stick to her design team “to reduce the risk of further increases in costs, the venue not being ready in time for the Tokyo 2020 Games, and being of lower quality”.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s decision to take plans for the stadium “back to zero”, which also left the 2019 Rugby World Cup without a venue for several key matches, has damaged Japan’s reputation for organisational prowess and set off a round of finger-pointing within the government.

“(President) Bach has expectations that we can improve the plan.