Dome boss gives Olympics warning

The troubleshooter brought in to run the Millennium Dome says the government has "terrifying" lessons to learn from that project if it wins the Olympic Games.

The Dome could host some events if London wins its Olympic bid

David James, a former executive director of Dome operator the New Millennium Experience (NMEC), warned of the need to change how building contracts for stadiums are awarded.

His comments to BBC Radio 4's Today came on the final day of campaigning for the 2012 Olympics.

He was also speaking a day after it was revealed that two men defrauded the NMEC out of nearly £4m.

Simon Brophy, 39, and David Gordon, 44, who ran a lighting company for the Dome, had pleaded guilty to fraud in February.

'Luxury' lifestyle

Detectives revealed that Brophy, from Wakefield, near Leeds, had used his position as head of lighting at the London venue to award a lucrative contract to a company he actually owned.

Gordon, an Australian living in the Isle of Wight, was listed as a director of the lighting firm Pro Design Ltd.

The pair used the money to fund a "luxury lifestyle", detectives said.

Mr James warned the government to avoid a repeat of such a case happening.

Mr James said if ministers won the bid to host the 2012 Games, "they're going to have to build far more than the £811 million worth of Dome that we got".

'Taken for a ride'

He said they "are going to have to build billions of pounds worth of new stadia and facilities and resources and the same processes for contractual award, for maintenance and servicing will continue to have to be awarded".

He said: "If the old processes apply as they did the last time around, in around about five or six years time from now there'll be a similar run of court cases because they'll drop their guard again, they'll be taken for a ride again."

The fraud case was one of many problems to befall the £758m Dome, which was built as a Millennium project and opened in 2000.