Wembley Creates Another Stink

The developers said it won’t cause any further delay to the opening of London’s Wembley Stadium, but a report in The Guardian says a fault with the underground sewer pipes could take months to repair.

It seems the pipes running beneath the 90,000-seat stadium have buckled due to ground movement.

“Engineering sources” told The Guardian that correcting the problem could take “up to eight months.”

Earlier in the week, The Sun had claimed an unnamed site worker had said: “Pipes buckled because the ground around them had moved.

“Water and waste from flushed toilets would have backed up and overflowed if no repairs were done. On match day, when tens of thousands of people use the toilets at the same time, that just doesn’t bear thinking about.”

It’s the second time in a week the world-famous building site has made the headlines. On March 28th, several U.K. papers reported that – a day earlier – a rafter on the north roof collapsed without warning, falling about three feet as several men were working on it.

All 3,000 workers were evacuated from the site while engineers examined the roof section to find out what caused the 50-ton steel rafter to move.

Australian builder Multiplex said repairing the underground pipes will have no impact on the completion deadline for the £757 million stadium.

“As planned, we are carrying out CCTV camera surveys of all the drainage systems,” a company spokesman told The Guardian.

“Any recommended remedial works will be carried out by the appropriate sub-contractor. Multiplex is working closely with its consultants to ensure that its subcontractors’ work meets client specification and we do not believe that the drain and sewer system remedial repairs will have any impact on the completion of the stadium.”

— John Gammon