Wellcome Trust out of Olympic legacy running
EAST London will no longer benefit from the tech city promised by the Wellcome Trust as part of its £1bn post-Olympics development, after the health science charity yesterday dropped out of the Olympic Park race.
City A.M. understands the bid put forward by the Wellcome Trust with Hutchison Whampoa will no longer be progressed, with Delancey and Qatari Diar expected to be formally appointed as the preferred bidder by the Olympic Development Agency.
The Wellcome Trust, Britain’s biggest charity, planned to convert the Olympic Media Centre into a global hub for research and innovation called the Life Sciences Innovation Centre.
The Trust’s bid was conditional on also being handed the Athletes Village, as part of its “single entity” vision for the East London site that promised to create up to 7,000 jobs.
The consortium of Delancey and Qatari Diar, the sovereign real estate arm of the Qatari Royal family, is understood to have entered into exclusive talks with the ODA to take ownership of the entire 2,800-home Athletes Village plus adjacent plots.
The Wellcome Trust declined to comment.