Wembley arch builder kicked off job

MULTIPLEX, the company in charge of building the new Wembley Stadium, has booted steel-arch builder Cleveland Bridge off the £757m job.

Cleveland, which started lifting the iconic arch a month ago, will be replaced by Dutch firm Hollandia on the £55m steelwork package.

According to Construction News, the bridging specialist now has 28 days to get its 200 staff and plant off the north London site. Project sources said Cleveland was concerned over its abilities to keep on schedule with the job.

Bosses insist the job is on schedule, but other sources say the steelwork was running two months late. Lifting of the 1,750-tonne, 350-metre-wide Lord Foster-designed arch had been delayed by welding faults and trouble with the concrete foundations.

Lifting of the arch began four weeks ago and the 135-metre-high structure was finally hoisted into place and floodlit last week.

Representatives from Hollandia - runner-up to Cleveland for the steelwork deal in 2002 - have been on the Wembley site for the past month and will take over immediately. It is understood that Cleveland will continue to provide offsite steel production for the job.

The company made the arch sections at its Darlington base last autumn then assembled the 90-tonne sections on site. The arch will support sections of the stadium and its retractable roof.

Multiplex told trade union Amicus of its decision yesterday and work at the site ground to a halt.

The move is a further blow to Cleveland after it was forced to make 200 redundancies earlier this year.

Cleveland said: 'We confirm that on 29 June a 28-day handover on site-related works at Wembley national stadium was agreed as part of its ongoing negotiations with main contractor Multiplex.

'Cleveland Bridge regrets that this decision was communicated to the trade unions yesterday by Multiplex prior to the formal written confirmation of an agreement between the two companies.

'We are currently informing all of our site staff about the situation going forward.'

Multiplex, the Australian firm that built Sydney's Olympic stadium, was unavailable for comment. Last week, it revamped its British management team, with Noel Henderson taking over from Paul Gandy as managing director and chairman. Gandy moves to the UK development arm as Multiplex gears up for a British expansion programme.

The 90,000 all-seater stadium is scheduled to open for the 2006 FA Cup Final.