London 2012 Olympic Park Master Plan, United Kingdom

Winning the right to host the Olympic Games stirs a great deal of national pride, which explains why governments are so keen to support Olympic bids. But another, equally important, reason is the long-term benefits that the hosts enjoy. These are not just quick-fix boosts for tourism and inward investment; the Games can be a springboard for regeneration and development.

While Sydney and Athens have both complained about the cost of maintaining little used venues, a more positive example can be found in Barcelona, where a successful Olympic Games revitalised the city and helped define Spain as an economic force in Western Europe.

Now the spotlight has turned to London, specifically the area of East London that will host the 2012 Olympic Village and the bulk of the competitions.

East London was a logical choice. As one of the most disadvantaged areas of the English capital, it will benefit immensely from hosting the Games. Also, the area was already the recipient of investment in areas such as transport and housing such as the Thames Gateway scheme, which will help support the Olympic project.

Olympic park master plan

In January 2006, design practice EDAW was selected by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) to devise a masterplan for the Olympic Park, site of accommodation and many of the arenas for hosting the events, along with the associated infrastructure.

EDAW's winning consortium includes engineering consultancy Buro Happold, Allies & Morrison, Foreign Office and HOK Sport. The consortium formed an integrated team with two other firms; Arup who were responsible for the cost benefit analysis for the London Olympic bid and Atkins.

The EDAW team's remit has been to design all the Olympic Park's infrastructure elements, including utilities, waterways, drainage, landscape, platforms for the venues, roads and bridges. The EDAW Consortium previously produced the master plan that helped London win the 2012 games.

The master plan identifies staging the 2012 Games as: 'the major catalyst for change and regeneration in East London, especially the Lea Valley, leveraging resources, spurring timely completion of already programmed infrastructure investment and leaving a legacy to be valued by future generations'.

East London Regeneration

In January 2008 The London Development Agency (LDA) selected a new 17 member consortium, which included KCAP, EDAW, Allies and Morrison, Caruso St John, Maccreanor Lavington, Vogt Landscape, McDowell + Benedetti, Haworth Tompkins, Panter Hudspith, S333, Camlin Lonsdale, Buro Happold, Beyond Green, JMP, PMP, Vision XS and Nick Ritblat to design the Olympic legacy master plan. The team will now develop the masterplan for the new homes, parkland, schools, health facilities, infrastructure and workspace within the Lower Lea Valley site.

The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games park will span two million square metres or 500 acres, of the Lower Lea Valley, which forms the boundary between the boroughs of Newham, Waltham Forest, Hackney and Tower Hamlets. After the Games, the park will provide a hub for East London, creating opportunities for education, cultural development and training, and jobs.

In addition, the park is designed to enrich the local ecology by restoring wetland habitats and planting with native species this will include a cleanup of the River Lea and the surrounding area. A sustainability master plan has been devised by the ODA which must be adhered to in conducting each project on the park. Communities around the park that are currently divided by trunk roads will be reunited by a series of land bridges, leading to a more cohesive, people-friendly site.

Olympic stadium

Sited at the heart of the park, the 53m-high Olympic Stadium will seat 80,000 and have a roof area of 24,500ft² but will be converted after the games into an athletics / sports stadium with capacity for 25,000 spectators (there is hope to permanently base a sports team here of some sort). It will also provide a community centre, complete with education suite, library, IT centre, gymnasium and cafeteria. The stadium island site is on a 40-acre site.

The 80,000-seat stadium is costing £496m to construct and is being designed and constructed by 'Team Stadium' consisting of HOK Sport (architect), Sir Robert McAlpine and Burro Happold, landscape designer HED and planning consultant Savills Hepher Dixon. The formal contract was signed in April 2008.

Work began on the stadium in May 2008 and already the site has been cleared (800,000t of soil removed), 3,500 piles of the 4,000 for the foundations have been driven and a concrete batching plant has been set up in the south of the site to produce 200 precast raker concrete units for the lower permanent seating section of the stadium.

Throughout the winter of 2008, floor slabs will be laid for the base of the Stadium 'bowl' and the lower tier structures, and the columns that support the pedestrian concourse level will be built. Early in 2009 the erection of the 10,000t steel structures that will support the Stadium roof will be started.

Aquatics centre

Construction of the swimming and diving venue was delayed as architect Zaha Hadid attempted to bring down the costs (she wanted to use a rare South American hard wood for elements of the roof). The Aquatics Centre, to the south-east of the park will contain two 50m pools and a 25m diving pool and associated facilities such as prep rooms and changing areas with seating for around 17,500 (reduced to 3,500 after the games).

The stadium will cost £303m to construct and the main contractor is Balfour Beatty along with Ove Arup and pool architects S&P. The building will have a sinuous S-shaped roof resembling a manta ray and already the design has been hailed as a sculptural masterpiece, which will be a new London landmark. The building work began on the foundations in July 2008 (two months ahead of schedule).

After the games the pool will provide an elite training facility for British swimming, diving, water polo and synchronised swimming competitors, as well as serving the local community as a centre for developing grassroots interest in the sport.

Velodrome

The main Velodrome for the London Olympic park has been designed with a concave timber roof and has been dubbed the ‘Pringle’ (designed by Hopkins Architects). This will form the centrepiece of a larger cycling path including a BMX course and will seat 6,000 spectators (the BMX arena will also have 6,000 seats that will be removed after the games).

Following the games the venue will be retained and will have a 2km road cycle circuit added along with a mountain bike course, which will link into cycle paths across London. The project will cost £80m and the project design team includes Expedition Engineering, BDSP and Grant Associates. The main contractor is ISG and work is due to begin ion construction in early 2009, the site is currently (summer 2008) being prepared.

Other venues

Three Olympic indoor arenas will host volleyball, handball, basketball and modern pentathlon. Two of the arenas are temporary, designed to be relocated after the Games. The third will become a permanent home for a host of indoor sporting competitions. A separate hockey complex will feature a main stadium with seating for 20,000 alongside warm-up and two training pitches some of which will be relocated after the games.

Existing play areas at Drapers Field are to be upgraded to provide training and warm-up facilities during the Games and a legacy sports centre for local users after they have finished.

The five retained venues are set to form the London Olympic Institute. Based in the main stadium, this organisation will be open to all abilities, and focus on promoting the Olympic ideal through sport, culture and the environment. Sports medicine will be another facet of its work.

Housing and infrastructure

Within walking distance of the sporting facilities, the Olympic and Paralympic Villages will provide accommodation for 17,800 athletes and officials. The Athletes village will be incorporated as part of the parallel 73 acre Stratford City development being undertaken in the area.

After the games, they will become housing with environmentally friendly waste treatment and renewable energy. The site will be made up of 3,300 units, 30% of which will be affordable housing for local people to rent or buy.

Current plans continue London's tradition of building homes around communal squares and courtyards. Residential structures will range in height from four to 13 storeys. Buildings used to house the clinic, admin offices and supporting facilities are to be converted to an academy education campus for 1,800 students for adult, primary, secondary and nursery schooling (designed by Alford Hall Monaghan Morris).

Before 2012 (phase one) there will also be 10ha of open space including five parks, squares, tree-lined streets, a water feature, courtyards and roof gardens.

Transport will include a new DLR station, high-speed 1 'Javelin shuttle service to central London (seven minutes), 2,500 parking spaces, new bus routes and a host of cycle paths and pedestrian footpaths.

The athletes village is part of a $1bn project being undertaken by Lend Lease of Australia in conjunction with their own retail and communities business, Bovis lend Lease, and First Base Ltd with East Thames Group who will be responsible for the affordable housing. The project will seek to achieve a Code4/BREEAM standard of design throughout.

After the Olympics (phase two) further development will include an additional 1,000 houses, a health centre, 370,000m² of commercial space and a 90,000m² hotel.

Over 47 architects have been selected to work on projects in the athletes village and these have been divided in to 15 teams to handle projects in zones 2 to 7 of Stratford City, which includes the athletes village.

The landscape design around the village is the remit of Vogt Landschaftarchitekten of Switzerland working in conjunction with the urban designer Patel Taylor and Fletcher Priest.

Construction began on the village in June 2008 despite Lend Lease having problems raising the £450m it needs for the development because of the global credit crunch. Boris Johnson the new Mayor of London has suggested diverting funds from the £1bn Homes and Communities Agency affordable housing fund.

All the major earthwork is complete and work on bridges, enclosing railway lines and the piling for the first three mansion blocks is underway. Work has also begun on the first abutments for the first five of 30 pedestrian bridges that will cross the waterways around the Olympic park.

Energy centre and substation

Construction is well underway (contract was awarded in January 2008) on the primary electrical substation to supply electricity to the Olympic park (designed by NORD Architecture). This is being constructed by EDF Energy Construction through a subsidiary called Lea Valley Utilities. The piling work was completed in summer 2008 and included 200 piles driven to 19m. The main structure of the building will be completed by summer 2009.

The energy centre on the Olympic park will provide power, heating and cooling during the games. The contract was awarded to Elyo (a subsidiary of SUEZ Energy services) in July 2008. The construction work was started in August 2008 on surveying and clearing the site. Currently (September 2008) the piling work is underway for driving 200 piles to a depth of 24m using a piling mat.

The energy centre at Lings Yard (designed by John McAslan & Partners) will include a combined cooling heat and power plant (tri-generation) to capture and reuse heat produced during electricity generation to heat the Aquatics centre pools. There will also be sustainable biomass boilers installed in this facility to use woodchip fuels. The energy centre will have a brown roof using crushed recycled materials to provide a habitat for wildlife.

The international broadcast and main press centre

The IBC (two storey 75,000m²) and MPC (four storey 45,000m²) will be 24 hour facilities for 20,000 media personnel to provide coverage of the event for over four billion people worldwide. The facility will be 120,000m² containing over 100 private offices for media personnel (MPC), a studio tower (IBC), a 2,500-space car park, bank, restaurant, hair salon, general store, and integrated transport facilities (media transport mall).

The construction of these facilities will begin in 2009 and Carillion and Igloo were chosen by the ODA as the contractors.

After the games the whole media complex will be converted to an office and business facility complex to rival Canary Wharf and provide employment for 8,000 people. Energy requirements for the buildings will be offset by windmills on the roof and 'solar panel' shades over the windows.

Receptive to change

EDAW's team have already modified the master plan in the light of recent developments. At the end of January 2006, it reduced the size of the village to spare 80 businesses and 1,000 jobs from relocation. At the end of 2005, they reviewed the plans originally drawn up in 2003 and made changes based on parallel developments instigated by the Stratford City Development. These have resulted in adjustments to the location of the village, media centres and the temporary coach and car parking sites. The changes should improve the quality and security of the park as well as construction times.

The village has been moved further south to integrate better with the Stratford City Development, allowing a large part of its accommodation to be delivered through the latter's housing provision. This allowed contractors to start construction earlier as the land had already been prepared.

The team also moved the International Broadcast Centre and Main Press Centre from its intended location in Pudding Mill Lane within the park security cordon. This improves security and provides an improved platform for media activity, with the addition of views of the park and London's skyline.