Olympic Organisers Consider Scrapping £90m Fencing Arena

London 2012 organizers confirmed yesterday they are considering scrapping the construction of the planned 8,000-seat temporary fencing venue in the Olympic Park and relocating the sport to an existing facility. The change of plan, which would see the fencing events take place outside the Olympic Park at the ExCel Center in Docklands, could save the Olympic Delivery Authority as much as £90m.

Last night Olympic officials would confirm only that a review of all temporary venues is being carried out but it is understood fencing will be relocated subject to approval from the International Fencing Federation and the International Olympic Committee. Suggestions that plans for a 12,000-seat temporary arena to stage the preliminary rounds of the basketball will be scrapped were, however, rejected by Olympic sources, who indicated that the event would remain in the Olympic Park.

In London's original bid document fencing was to occupy a purpose-built arena within the Olympic Park that would then be taken down and relocated elsewhere in the country. The ODA has not yet sought tenders for designing and constructing the arena but reports have estimated the cost at £90m. Olympic sources questioned that figure but conceded that scrapping the venue would deliver substantial savings to the project.

Cost is a hugely sensitive issue for Games organizers who have overseen a doubling in the budget from £4bn to £9.3bn in the two years since London won the Games. They insist cost is not the major consideration for the scrapping of the fencing arena, however. Since London submitted plans for the park the privately owned ExCel Center has received planning permission to expand capacity with a second arena.

London organizers believe the extra capacity at the venue, already scheduled to host six events, provides an opportunity to scale back the cost and complexity of the project. The fencing rethink signals the second major change of plan on facilities this year. In October the ODA announced the intended venue for canoing at Broxbourne had been scrapped because of contamination that was not picked up in the original site surveys.

An Olympic spokeswoman said: "The big five venues in the park - the main stadium, velodrome, aquatic center, athletes' village and media center - are permanent and their locations are fixed. We always said we would make sure we optimized temporary venues as part of our aim to make the games as memorable as possible for athletes, spectators and in legacy. That's what we are doing now - no decisions have been made."