London 2012 Aquatic Centre roof in position

THE roof of the London 2012 Aquatics Centre, an iconic wave-shaped structure, has been lowered into place at the Olympic site in Stratford, east London.

ON SCHEDULE: The London 2012 Aquatic Centre roof is on target but has significantly increased in cost (Getty Images) 

The centre, designed by Iraqi-born architect Zaha Hadid, will mark the gateway to the Olympic Park.  The roof, designed to stretch and twist according to the weather, will now be covered in aluminium.

Work to put the 2800-tonne roof in place began in March and while the initial plans for the roof were scaled down, the cost of the centre is now expected to be in the region of £300m - four times the figure quoted in London's winning Olympic bid.

The 17,500 seat centre will host swimming, diving and water polo finals during the Games, but will be reduced to 2,500 seats afterwards.

The venue will house two 50m swimming pools, a 25m diving pool and a tower while the column-less roof is 160m long and 90m wide.

Meanwhile, London 2012 chief executive Paul Deighton has been making some bold predictions about ticket sales.

Having upscaled his target for sponsorship revenue to £700 million, Deighton told the Sports Event Management conference he believed £400 million can be raised from ticketing.

"If you look at the revenue we have yet to capture, the principal component will be from ticketing,” he said.

"Something like £400 million will come through ticketing. We are building business plans for each of the sports to make sure that we can get tickets in the hands of the people who most want to be there."

Last month Thomas Cook was appointed as a tier two partner, in a deal worth an estimated £20 million. They have the responsibility for providing UK short break and ticket packages.

London 2012 officials had originally pledged prices would start at £15 with more than half of available tickets priced at £30.

They have since withdrawn this pledge, although nailing a successful ticketing strategy has become one of Deighton’s major challenges

Empty seats in Beijing were a cause of major irritation to the International Olympic Committee.