[Football] Inside Spurs' stadium: 'I’ve never in my life worked like that'

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Hmm...

Seems like Spurs have been trying to do their stadium on the cheap and it's come back to bite them badly on the bum. Oh well.

This from Construction News:

https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/...-in-my-life-worked-like-that/10035311.article

Strapline: 'CN exclusively reveals allegations that site chaos, confusion and ill-discipline lie behind the delays to Tottenham Hotspur’s £850m stadium.'

 

[Durlston]

They should have been docked points like they were at the start of the 1988/89 season. Building work wasn't finished on time for the visit of Coventry. Have the FA got the balls to do that now? Have they fook.

 

[BBassic]

CN has heard first-hand accounts describing a minority of workers being under the influence of alcohol and, in some cases, cocaine while working on the project, with sources even claiming that the drug was being used in site toilets.

Unlikely to be the last time coke would be used in that ground.

If it ever opens.

 

[WATFORD zero]

I wonder if Spurs should approach Paul Barber and see if they could get a season long loan for Martin Perry

 

[Thunder Bolt]

I wonder if Spurs should approach Paul Barber and see if they could get a season long loan for Martin Perry

Nooooooo. He's needed in October for the NMF and Ikea planning. Maybe after Christmas and if Spurs agree to a ten point deduction.

 

[N17]

Storm. Teacup.

 

[Wozza]

They should have been docked points like they were at the start of the 1988/89 season. Building work wasn't finished on time for the visit of Coventry. Have the FA got the balls to do that now? Have they fook.

The FA don't run the Premier League.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Storm. Teacup.

Why? That?

 

[sir albion]

CN has heard first-hand accounts describing a minority of workers being under the influence of alcohol and, in some cases, cocaine while working on the project, with sources even claiming that the drug was being used in site toilets.

Unlikely to be the last time coke would be used in that ground.

If it ever opens.

Pretty much like every development with a minority then?

 

[Easy 10]

Just makes you appreciate what a fantastic job Martin Perry and Buckingham Group did with the Amex build. Finished on time, within budget, with no slippage. This Spurs build sounds like absolute chaos, if these allegations are to be believed.

They should have been up-front about it months ago when it was blatantly obvious it wasn't going to be ready anywhere near their fictional / delusional opening dates. Instead they went ahead selling tickets for non-events more in hope than expectation, and have left some people, who booked flights and hotels for the 'grand opening' high and dry. I don't think an offer of a Wembley ticket as a replacement quite cuts it.

Levy is not a stupid man. But he's clearly something of an arse.

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

Nooooooo. He's needed in October for the NMF and Ikea planning. Maybe after Christmas and if Spurs agree to a ten point deduction.

Deduction, no, reallocation of 10 points to the club lending the leading light!

 

[Springal]

Know loads of sparks in Sussex who are working at there at the moment. £450 a day apparently, no wonder they're all getting on it

 

[Greavsey]

Just makes you appreciate what a fantastic job Martin Perry and Buckingham Group did with the Amex build. Finished on time, within budget, with no slippage. This Spurs build sounds like absolute chaos, if these allegations are to be believed.

They should have been up-front about it months ago when it was blatantly obvious it wasn't going to be ready anywhere near their fictional / delusional opening dates. Instead they went ahead selling tickets for non-events more in hope than expectation, and have left some people, who booked flights and hotels for the 'grand opening' high and dry. I don't think an offer of a Wembley ticket as a replacement quite cuts it.

Levy is not a stupid man. But he's clearly something of an arse.

I think the difference between us and Spurs is that we allowed a realistic amount of time to build the thing! Spurs have tried to build a stadium with double the capacity and probably double complexity in two thirds of the time. Always doomed to fail.

I suspect, typical Levy, it is all a negotiating tactic in order to drive costs down through penalty clauses if the contractors miss deadlines, almost hoping they did, and to hell with the fans. The contractors were chuffing idiots to sign up to such a timescale.

 

[Easy 10]

I think the difference between us and Spurs is that we allowed a realistic amount of time to build the thing! Spurs have tried to build a stadium with double the capacity and probably double complexity in two thirds of the time. Always doomed to fail.

I suspect, typical Levy, it is all a negotiating tactic in order to drive costs down through penalty clauses if the contractors miss deadlines, almost hoping they did, and to hell with the fans. The contractors were chuffing idiots to sign up to such a timescale.

The costs have only spiralled throughout the project though. Originally it was quoted at around £400m. Its now pushing £850m, and is likely to top a billion by the time its finally finished. Then you've got whatever they've lost / been fined for having to bin off the NFL game - you can bet that won't have been cheap, pissing the americans around.

Penalty clauses ain't going to come anywhere close to bringing those costs down.

 

[Simster]

Just makes you appreciate what a fantastic job Martin Perry and Buckingham Group did with the Amex build. Finished on time, within budget, with no slippage. This Spurs build sounds like absolute chaos, if these allegations are to be believed.

They should have been up-front about it months ago when it was blatantly obvious it wasn't going to be ready anywhere near their fictional / delusional opening dates. Instead they went ahead selling tickets for non-events more in hope than expectation, and have left some people, who booked flights and hotels for the 'grand opening' high and dry. I don't think an offer of a Wembley ticket as a replacement quite cuts it.

Levy is not a stupid man. But he's clearly something of an arse.

I'm not suggesting Spurs haven't fcked this up, nor that Perry and Buckingham didn't do a good job - but you're comparing building a brand new 30,000-seater stadium build in the countryside with a stadium build that is twice the size, in an urban area, hamstrung by the fact that half of it was still in use during the first half of the build. It's not rocket science to realise that one is a considerably more complex job than the other. A fairer comparison would be that Spurs are actually getting it done, whilst the NigeIs can't even get one STAND re-built in a similarly built up area.

 

[Ernest]

I don't think we are ones to gloat over that after the mess Dick Tight made over the move to Withdean from Gillingham and how that was delayed after selling season tickets to play there and opened a year late

 

[Weststander]

Rather than signing a single contractor on a fixed price to deliver the entire project, as was the case with major developments at the Amex, Emirates, Anfield and Millennium Stadium; Levy opted for a packaged development with subcontractors agreeing the price of their individual elements with him and then later communicating directly with the club, with MACE appointed as construction managers. On paper this can reduce the overall cost, by removing the multi £m profit margin of a construction company.

The obvious disadvantages being too many cooks, a lack of focus towards an overall deadline, a lack of penalty clauses to recover losses, and overriding escalating costs. So the major risks of a complex, bespoke project remain with the client.

And so it came to be.

 

[Insel affe]

CN has heard first-hand accounts describing a minority of workers being under the influence of alcohol and, in some cases, cocaine while working on the project, with sources even claiming that the drug was being used in site toilets..

That is not news, that is daily life in most London work places.....

Next

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Know loads of sparks in Sussex who are working at there at the moment. £450 a day apparently, no wonder they're all getting on it

And if your work force are all on the marching powder surely the job will be done much quicker, not to mention much more confidently?

 

[Weststander]

I think the difference between us and Spurs is that we allowed a realistic amount of time to build the thing! Spurs have tried to build a stadium with double the capacity and probably double complexity in two thirds of the time. Always doomed to fail.

I suspect, typical Levy, it is all a negotiating tactic in order to drive costs down through penalty clauses if the contractors miss deadlines, almost hoping they did, and to hell with the fans. The contractors were chuffing idiots to sign up to such a timescale.

Worse than that, hundreds of subcontractor firms were engaged by the club, rather than a single contractor which is the norm.

If Levy chooses to pursue penalties, that's a whole load of legal cases to come.