Olympic build bosses paid £2m

Nearly £2 million in salaries were paid to the top executives behind the Olympic build, new figures show.

The wage bill for the Olympic Delivery Authority's (ODA) executive management board cost £1,991,000.

ODA chief executive Dennis Hone, received a £274,000 salary, £79,000 performance related pay and £48,000 in employers pension contributions in a £401,000 package in 2010/11. The ODA's former finance and corporate services director took over as chief executive, replacing Sir David Higgins, on 1 February 2011.

Sir David, who is now chief executive of Network Rail, took home £325,000 in salary, £179,000 in performance related pay and £40,000 in employers pension contributions in a package worth £544,000.

Packages for the executive management board ranged from £218,000 to £544,000. The ODA's accounts for same period in 2009/10 showed the ODA directors received packages worth between £257,000 and £372,000.

The exception is finance director Gerry Luck, who has been in place since February 2011 and received £23,000 as a salary, £6,000 in performance pay and £3,000 in pension contributions.

The executive management board, apart from the chief executive and the finance director, are in line for a share-out of £319,000 in performance related pay.

The sum has been figured out over 18 months and is linked to the completion of the Big Build of venues from April 1 2010 to September 30 2011.

Construction work at the Olympic Park is more than 83% complete. The International Broadcast Centre (IBC) has become the fifth venue on the site in Stratford, east London, to be finished.

The build is one of Britain's most complex construction projects.