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Zaha Hadid Hits Back Over Scrapped Stadium For 2020 Tokyo Olympics

The architects whose "controversial plans for a dramatic" £1.3B ($2B) Tokyo Olympic stadium "were scrapped by the Japanese government over concerns about costs hit back on Tuesday, claiming it was not the design at fault but rapidly rising construction costs," according to Caroline Davies of the London GUARDIAN. London-based Zaha Hadid Architects warned Japanese PM Shinzō Abe that "ditching their award-winning design team and their knowledge risked the stadium not being completed in time for the 2020 Olympics, or a lower quality stadium which would require expensive upgrading for long-term use." Abe announced the decision to go back to the drawing board earlier in July "after a public backlash over a doubling of the original costs estimate." In a statement, the firm "blamed a building boom in Tokyo, limited labour supply, a significant drop in the yen, and the uncompetitive way construction contractors were appointed for the escalating costs." It said that "a limited number of contractors were appointed before being invited to submit costs at a time when the cost of building in Tokyo was rocketing" (GUARDIAN, 7/28).

STEPPING DOWN: In London, Leo Lewis wrote the "embittered political battle raging around Tokyo’s preparations for the 2020 Olympic Games intensified on Tuesday with the resignation of the senior official in charge of plans for the new national stadium." Sports & Youth Bureau Dir General Kimito Kubo, "widely blamed for allowing stadium construction costs to spiral" above 250B yen ($2B), said that he was stepping down for personal reasons (FINANCIAL TIMES, 7/28).

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