The authority was established by the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006. Prior to the act receiving Royal Assent, Jack Lemley was appointed as chairman in 2005, but resigned on 18 October 2006. Lemley had run the Anglo-French group that designed and built the £8 billion Channel Tunnel. Lemley's tenure as Chairman of the ODA and subsequent resignation in October 2006 became surrounded by controversy and recrimination. Originally claiming his resignation was due to pressing commitments in his international construction business, Lemley International, he later asserted to the Idaho Statesman that his departure seemed necessary because political infighting and the unwillingness of government ministers to face up to construction challenges threatened the project and his reputation. He insisted that the Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell and Mayor of LondonKen Livingstone had ignored warnings that the project budget was spiraling out of control, refused to accept that chemical contamination of Olympic sites presented unexpectedly large challenges, hid additional expenses such as VAT costs, and refused to confront the reality that the Olympics may have to be scaled back to keep within costs. Lemley was criticised by the government for breaking confidentiality, and Ken Livingstone suggested he had been treated more than fairly when asked to resign, being allowed a dignified departure due to his past services to the nation on the Channel Tunnel project and a generous compensation package. In May 2007, Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, announced John Armitt's appointment as Chairman, the appointment commenced on 1 September 2007, with Acting ChairmanSir Roy McNulty resuming his post of Deputy Chairman. In February 2011, the Director of Finance, Dennis Hone succeeded David Higgins as Chief Executive. He left the position in April 2013 to become Chief Executive of the London Legacy Development Corporation, being replaced by Gerry Murphy. In 2012, the Authority won New Civil Engineer 40th Anniversary Award - Impact on Society at the British Construction Industry Awards. The ODA was dissolved by Parliament on 2 December 2014.
Responsibilities
The ODA was responsible for the delivery of the infrastructure required for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Following the conclusion of the events, the authority took on the role of adapting the Olympic park with the construction of new facilities and venues, as well as the removal of the temporary venues used during the Games.
Finance
The ODA's original budget was £2.375 billion, provided by a public sector funding package agreed between Government and the Mayor of London in 2003. However, in October 2006, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell announced that this could rise to over £4 billion. In March 2007 she announced a new funding package for the ODA, increasing its budget to £9.3 billion. The government had expected to take advantage of the UK's increasing property prices, and developers, including Lend Lease and Igloo, were expected to fund construction of parts of the Olympic village and Media Centre. However, as a result of the recession and fall in property prices since 2008, additional funding was requested from a contingency fund set up by the government.
