LONDON (Reuters) – The organisers of the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games have abandoned plans for a village of single athletes due to the effect of the global pandemic and will instead use 3 “campuses”.
They said on a Wednesday that more than 6,000 athletes and officials would be housed at the universities of Warwick and Birmingham and in hotel rooms at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC).
“With a shorter deadline than the general deadline for the delivery of the 2022 Birmingham Games, the new array site Array … had very few opportunities to deal with the effect of COVID-19 on construction,” he said.
The original project, which is part of the regeneration of the city’s Perry Barr neighborhood, will still be completed on a revised deadline to supply local housing.
“This is a difficult time for all of us and hosting a major multisport event in this era has forced us to paint in combination effectively, be pragmatic about replacement and be realistic about the demanding situations we face,” said Ian Reid, Birmingham 2022 CEO.
“We recognize that this new style is moving away from the old norm and we are grateful for what our partners have shown through the Commonwealth Games partnerships.”
The 2022 Games were originally moved to Durban, South Africa, in 2015, but the city was stripped of its host rights through the Commonwealth Games Federation after the plan ran into monetary problems.
Birmingham, the only bidder, designated as the replacement host city in December 2017. The Games will be the ultimate sporting opportunity held in Britain since the 2012 London Olympics.
Organizers said the campus style would be delivered from the games’s overall budget of 778 million pounds ($1.020 million).
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Reporting through Alan Baldwin, edited through Pritha Sarkar
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