The main arena of the 2012 Games was supposed to become a semi-temporary structure: after the completion of the Olympics, it was planned to dismantle its upper tier and outer shell, leave 25,000 out of 80,000 seats, and turn it into a sports school. Such a scenario was due to the relatively small budget of the Games in London: the lack of funds made all the projects of sports facilities and key infrastructure facilities to be as cheap as possible, which caused public disappointment. Most of these projects were presented in 2008, the year of the Beijing Olympics, and it was clearly shown to the British that their Games would not be able to compete in architectural terms with the previous ones.
In the work of the Olympic Committee, the main role was played by the problem of legacy - "legacy": how the structures erected for the Games will be used after their completion and whether the 9.3 billion pounds invested in them will be at least partially returned. The negative experience of Athens, where the sports complex designed by Santiago Calatrava turned out to be unprofitable, forced the British committee to develop a scheme for inexpensive transformable or temporary structures.
In this regard, dramatic battles unfolded; the project of the same Olympic stadium was already completely redesigned once by its authors, Populous bureau (former HOK Sport) and Peter Cook, but Zaha Hadid's water sports complex got the most: its cost increased significantly as the project was being worked on, and it had to be coordinated with the originally budgeted amount, mercilessly reworking the architect's plan.
Now - a 180-degree turn: the new head of the Olympic Committee, Lady Margaret Ford, said that the main stadium would not need to be transformed. While retaining its full capacity, it will be able to attract tourists and organizers of major competitions and concerts. And it is in this state that he will increase England's chances of hosting the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
So far this proposal has not been submitted for official consideration, but it is already clear that its implementation will make reality the worst scenario from the point of view of the British authorities: it will increase the construction budget, which is now 525 million pounds.
