AMEC has teamed up with Balfour Beatty to form an all-British consortium to bid for the prestigious project manager role for the 2012 London Olympics. The role is to oversee the design, construction and maintenance of the multi-billion-pound Olympic village and venues.

The two British infrastructure firms, which previously worked together on London Underground’s Jubilee line, agreed to join forces last week as the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) issued a new tender for the role of “delivery partner” on the Olympics.

Ian Thomas, Amec business-development director, said: “Amec and Balfour Beatty are joining up to develop a strong British consortium with access to resources and delivery facilities from across the whole of the UK.” The ODA is the government body charged with building the key venues, facilities and infrastructure for the 2012 Games. As well as the Olympic village, there are plans for the main stadium, swimming pools, a hockey pitch, gym and velodrome, all at Stratford in east London. The resulting Olympic Park will be seven minutes by train from central London.

The project-manager role has been greatly expanded from providing the infrastructure, as was originally envisaged. It will now cover many more stages in the life of the Olympic sites, from early planning to their transformation after the Games have finished.

ODA chairman Jack Lemley, appointed last November, scrapped the original short list already drawn up for the job, which included Amec, KBR, Mace, Lend Lease, Arup and Parsons Brinckerhoff.

The ODA said: “The complexity of the task has been redefined. It is no reflection on the original applicants.”

While the bulk of the work will be at Stratford, other sites will also come under the auspices of the project manager. They include a shooting range in Surrey, a yachting facility, and several training camps dotted around the country.

The tender stipulates that only firms with an annual turnover of £100m or more may apply. The ODA wants its project manager to have sufficient resources to pitch in should any of the projects run into difficulty. Expressions of interest for the new role, which can come from consortiums or single companies, must be in by March 28, followed by bids on April 25. The contract begins this July.

Amec said it would bring its programme-management expertise to the new consortium with Balfour, which will be run as a special-purpose vehicle. Amec is project manager on the final fit-out of Heathrow’s Terminal Five.

Balfour Beatty’s Tim Sharp said: “We have comprehensive infrastructure capabilities. We and Amec are sensible partners to look at this important challenge. Our experience dovetails with Amec’s.”

The firms are already paired on the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) to rebuild University College Hospital.