Olympic pool project is going swimmingly for Balfour

The Zaha Hadid-designed aquatic centre at the London Olympic park will be finished in about seven months, "a year ahead of what's required," builder Balfour Beatty said today.

The construction giant has nearly 400 people working on the building as well as roads and electrical infrastructure at the site.

Andrew McNaughton, chief operating officer, said the projects were running "absolutely to time", making the Olympic Delivery Authority a "very happy customer".

Balfour's order book hit £15 billion in the third quarter. It said it was "too early" to predict the impact of public sector cuts, despite 20% of its business coming from Government infrastructure spending. It is now looking to pick up more support services contracts to add to its existing work.