One-hundred venues. Eighty people. Two-and-a-half years. The ink has yet to dry on Atkins' deal to mastermind the temporary structures needed for the 2012 Olympics, but already-five days after its role was confirmed-the pressure is intense. During the next 917 days, the firm must deliver what is probably the largest temporary build programme the world has ever seen-with the added pressure that, once the athletes go home, it must look as if the whole thing never happened. So with an unfinalised programme, the financial crisis and a host of local demons standing in its way, has Atkins taken on mission impossible? Atkins worked on the initial bid document for the Olympics and has been employed on Olympic park remediation, but its appointment as design services engineer, announced on Monday, is a triumph against the odds. The company didn't know about the tender put out by LOCOG, aka the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, until 24 hours before the bid deadline.
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