Follow the construction of London's Olympic venues in the run up to the 2012 Games
Created by ainsmith on 08/09/2008
Last updated: 03/03/11 at 15:03
The ODA has begun a search for contractors for the £300m job to transform the Olympic park to prepare for regeneration after the 2012 games.
The organisation issued a tender this morning for the “design and construction of the transformation works.”
The job is thought to include removing all of the temporary venues, and making changes to other major venues in order to create a platform upon which future regeneration and redevelopment can take place.
As well as construction work the winning bidder will also have to take on a certain amount of design and technical services, as well as the possibility of a construction management role, particularly over existing contracts for temporary venues.
http://www.building.co.uk/news/breaking-news/oda-issues-£300m-transformation-tender/5014175.article
Everywhere you turn, the Olympics are touted as a shining example of a groundbreaking sustainable project. It was a particular shame, then, to have to report last month that the park will probably miss its target to take 20% of its power from renewable sources in its legacy phase in 2013.
According to Shaun McCarthy, head of the Commission for a Sustainable 2012, which monitors the sustainability of the Games, the failure to install a wind turbine last summer helped scupper the targets. Add to this that LOCOG, who will actually run the Games, have already said they will miss an identical target for during the Olympics itself, and you are left wondering just how green they will be.
http://www.building.co.uk/are-the-games-green-credentials-in-tatters?/5014189.blog
The Olympic park will miss its target of generating 20% of its energy from renewable sources after the Games, the head of the independent watchdog monitoring sustainability on the site has warned.
Shaun McCarthy, chair of the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012, said that the proportion of renewable energy will be “less than anticipated”. He suggested the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) would instead have to use energy-efficiency measures to hit its target of emitting 50% less carbon than normal buildings.
http://www.building.co.uk/news/olympic-park-set-to-miss-green-target-after-games/5013431.article
All the building projects on the Olympic site are on time and almost four fifths of the construction work in preparation for the Games is now complete, according to a report released today by the National Audit Office.
The only concerns the NAO has raised is over the completion date for the Aquatics Centre and two of the 11 Athlete’s village plots, where timing is “becoming tight” for the handover to LOCOG, which will run the Games.
http://www.building.co.uk/news/all-olympic-buildings-will-be-delivered-on-time/5013425.article
The Laing O’Rourke-led CLM consortium behind the Olympics construction project has seen its fee for delivering the job rise to £718 million.
The Olympic Delivery Authority’s (ODA) latest quarterly accounts figures reveal that CLM earned an extra £24 million since November for keeping costs down on the project.
Following the latest rise, the consortium’s project management fee is £718 million, with the overall development cost for the project expected to be £7.3 billion.
http://www.building.co.uk/news/breaking-news/clm-consortium-fee-for-olympic-job-rises-to-£718m/5013412.article
The Olympic Delivery Authority has pumped money into failing subcontractors in order to ensure continued supply of parts for the Olympic village, it admitted yesterday.
The body admitted yesterday that costs on the Village had risen by £11m to £709m.
New ODA chief executive Dennis Hone said this was largely due to the cost of paying for continued supply from four companies that had either gone into administration or were close to collapse.
The ODA has confirmed that two companies, cladding firm Trent Concrete, and bathroom pod manufacturer EJ Badekabiner, have collapsed in the last three months on the Olympic project, with the ODA paying extra to the firms administrators in order to keep production going.
EJ Badekabiner was subsequently been rescued out of administration by Galliford Try subsidiary Continental Shelf 515.
http://www.building.co.uk/news/breaking-news/four-subbies-go-bust-on-olympic-village/5013346.article
The OPLC’s (Olympic Park Legacy Company) decision last week to hand the £496m Olympic Stadium over to West Ham and not Tottenham after the 2012 Games was right decision to make – at least from the two bids on the table. West Ham’s bid was by no means perfect. For one thing it relies on a £40m loan from Newham Council.
Luckily for the Hammers, Newham have never felt compelled to let their status as London’s poorest borough interfere with a rapacious appetite for public spending. Their refurbishment of their civic offices last year cost a cool £111m, almost twice the construction budget for the entire Welsh Assembly. But even by these profligate standards, municipal largesse of this scale at a time when public finances are under intense pressure is hardly ideal.
http://www.building.co.uk/west-ham-finally-wins-its-spurs/5013312.blog
West Ham have beaten Spurs in the fight for the Olympic stadium, reports suggest.
Olympic Park Legacy Committee executives have chosen West Ham’s bid, which would keep the stadium’s athletics track, the BBC reports.
Spurs’ plan to demolish most of the original stadium and remove the athletics track drew widespread criticism from the public and athletics bodies who said London’s bid promised to retain the facilities.
http://www.building.co.uk/news/breaking-news/west-ham-tipped-to-win-2012-stadium-bid/5013104.article
The opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics is barely eighteen months away. And with Hopkins’ Velodrome about to formally open this month, this seems as good a time as any to take stock of progress and see what Europe’s biggest construction site has in store. A recent visit to the Olympic Park reveals a development that after years in captivity is itching to be finally revealed to an expectant outside world. And all in all, the verdict is resoundingly positive.
http://www.building.co.uk/london-2012-the-final-hurdle/5013096.blog
Tottenham Hotspur has released the first image of the proposed 60,000 capacity football stadium that it would build if awarded the Olympic Park site.
The football club, which is competing with rival West Ham United for the right to take on the Olympic stadium, described its proposal as “one of the most advanced, state-of-the-art stadiums in Europe that will deliver an exceptional spectator experience”.
http://www.building.co.uk/news/breaking-news/tottenham-hotspur-releases-olympic-stadium-images/5012957.article
A giant fabric ’wrap’ around the Olympic stadium has been given the go-ahead despite the plans being controversially shelved last year.
The London Organising commitee (Locog) is seeking tenders from the private sector to supply the £7 million wrap. Spanning 900m - the wrap is designed to display moving images and minimise crosswind interference within the stadium.
The IOC however have strict guidelines relating to branding, meaning the wrap will not display any sponsorship logos.
http://www.building.co.uk/news/breaking-news/controversial-olympic-stadium-wrap-gets-go-ahead/5012989.article
The opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics may still be 18 months away, but 2011 is the year when the architectural competition begins. Over the next few months, construction will complete on the various venues within the Olympic site and they will start hosting test events in preparation for next summer’s games. This milestone will provide a long-awaited opportunity to view and compare the buildings as finished products for the first time. And, with its formal opening this month, Hopkins Architects’ velodrome has left the starting blocks early by grabbing the coveted top-spot of being the first venue to finish.
http://www.building.co.uk/buildings/case-studies/high-velocity-the-olympic-velodrome/5013390.article
Accident rate on the Village much higher than the park as a whole
Serious concerns about the rate of accidents on the construction of the 2012 Athlete’s Village have been revealed in a leaked report from the Olympic Delivery Authority.
The report reveals that workers at the village are 66% more likely to suffer a reportable accident than those on the rest of the site, prompting the ODA to commission a special review.
According to the Guardian newspaper, the report says: “Following a number of serious incidents and near misses at the Athletes Village, a review was commissioned by the ODA Director of Construction to be conducted in mid-September by the ODA Head of Health and Safety…it is likely that the focus on the Village will continue for the foreseeable future.”
Accidents include a major incident, revealed by Building, where an air ambulance was called after a worker fell one storey and broke his wrist on a Bovis-run part of the site. Overall the leaked report finds the accident rate for the year to September 2010 was 0.25 for every million man hours worked - or eight accidents - compared to just 0.15 or four accidents for the Olympic Park.
However it also finds that since then accident rates have fallen on the main site, while continuing at the Village, meaning they are now running at double the rate of the main site.
http://www.building.co.uk/technical/health-and-safety/oda-investigation-into-olympic-accidents/5012946.article
The legacy body in charge of the redevelopment of the Olympic Park after the games could be forced to spend “tens of millions” adding gyms to Zaha Hadid’s aquatic centre to make it viable to a commercial operator.
The original £268m design by Hadid included space for health and fitness centres in the building, but these were removed by the games developer, the Olympic Delivery Authority, as part of its bid to cut costs and fit the centre on a tight island site.
While there is a small space in the 2,500-spectator centre for a limited health and fitness centre, a former Olympic source said adding significant gym facilities to the centre after the games could now cost “tens of millions of pounds.”
The Olympic Park Legacy Company this week asked for expressions of interest from commercial operators in running the venue.
However, Building understands that the body is concerned that the venue will not be commercially viable without adding gym facilities.
http://www.building.co.uk/news/breaking-news/olympic-aquatic-centre-to-spend-âmillionsâ-on-gyms/5012248.article
The organisation charged with delivering the 8,000-home regeneration of the Olympic park after 2012 is to be given a remit to cover a much wider area from the end of next year.
The news comes as it emerged this week that the body, the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC), may take control of the Olympic park from the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) much earlier than previously expected.
A long-awaited consultation on turning the OPLC into a development corporation with powers to grant planning applications and raise an infrastructure levy on developers is expected next week.
East London sources said this week that the consultation will unexpectedly propose increasing the boundary of the body’s remit so that it encompasses about half of the Lower Lea Valley.
This means it will cover not just the Olympic park but also Westfield’s Stratford City development and surrounding Hackney Wick, and Bromley-by-Bow.
http://www.building.co.uk/news/breaking-news/olympic-park-legacy-body-to-gain-expanded-remit/5012207.article
The body in charge of the post-Olympics redevelopment of the 2012 Park has advertised for an operator for the controversial Zaha Hadid-designed Aquatics Centre.
The Olympic Park Legacy Company has also put out a call for someone to run the 7,500-seat Multi-use arena after the games. The call for expressions of interest come as the company has delayed making a decision on the final legacy use for the Olympic Stadium, with rival bids by Tottenham Hotspurs and West Ham on the table.
http://www.building.co.uk/news/regions/london/bidders-wanted-to-take-on-zahas-aquatic-centre/5012237.article
The body in charge of the redevelopment after the 2012 Olympic Games is considering becoming a landlord for up to 4,000 social homes planned for the site.
A senior source close to the situation said the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC), which is to be transformed into a Development Corporation next year, is currently working up plans to keep ownership of the social homes it builds on the site, rather than selling them off to a housing association.
The model is based on the idea of long-term public ownership pioneered by the post-war new towns, and is very different to the way regeneration has been achieved in the last decade.
The source said the organisation aims to fund the development with institutional money which would be attracted to a long-term investment in a stable, well-managed development. It is likely the OPLC would draft in a housing association on a management contract to run the homes to standards set by the OPLC .
The source said: “It’s a model very much based on the new towns.”
http://www.building.co.uk/sectors/housing/olympic-body-could-become-huge-social-landlord/5012183.article
This last week has been a torrid one for the little-known body running the competition to take on the £496m Olympic stadium after next year’s games.
Ever since Tottenham Hotspur unveiled its plans last week to take on the stadium – which involve not just the relocation of a historic football team from its traditional north London home, but also the virtual demolition of a £496m public building after four week’s use – it has been in the middle of a media storm.
Public figures have been lining up – quite understandably – to disparage Tottenham’s bid in favour of the local club, West Ham, who have the backing of the local council, Newham. Tottenham’s plan will also see the promise in London’s Olympic Bid of a permanent athletic legacy from the stadium consigned to the history books – football fans, the club says, do not want to look across a running track to watch the goals going in.
The big guns are out. When someone of Lord Sebastien Coe’s stature says Tottenham’s plans will “trash” the UK’s reputation, you know there’s a battle going on.
http://www.building.co.uk/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-the-olympic-stadium?/5012196.blog
The Olympic Delivery Authority could wind up two years earlier than originally intended, under plans being discussed since chief executive David Higgins announced his departure last year.
The ODA has asked the Olympic Park Legacy Company, the body in charge of the post-games regeneration of the site, if it wants to take on £350m of transformation works originally supposed to be undertaken by the ODA.
The OPLC, which in the past has tussled with the ODA regarding the scope of work that the ODA is required to do after the games to make it ready for redevelopment, will consider the offer at its regular board meeting in February
http://www.building.co.uk/news/breaking-news/oda-could-wind-up-18-months-early/5012197.article
A decision over the fate of the £496m Olympic Stadium after the games has been postponed, amidst a growing media furore over the issue.
The body charged with making the decision, the Olympic Park Legacy Company, ran by former English Partnerships chair Margaret Ford, said today that it had requested more information from the bidders, and therefore wouldn’t be able to make the decision at a planned board meeting on Friday.
Comments by Lord Coe over the weekend have fuelled controversy over the bids by Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham respectively to take on the stadium.
Coe said Tottenham’s plan, if chosen, would “trash” the reputation of UK sport because it will not see a permanent athletics venue at the stadium.
Tottenham’s plan is to demolish the majority of the stadium and replace it with a state-of-the-art football ground.
In a statement the OPLC said: “The Stadium is a significant public asset and we have a duty to run a robust process.
“Given the detailed nature of both bids received, we need more time to seek further clarification with both bidders in order to identify a preferred bidder.”
http://www.building.co.uk/news/breaking-news/olympic-stadium-decision-deferred/5012158.article
Lighting manufacturer Philips has supplied its Arena Vision MVF404 floodlighting system for the 2012 Olympic Stadium
More than 500 of the floodlights have been installed in 14 triangular shaped lighting towers fixed around the edge of the roof of the stadium, an axonometric of which is pictured above. Each floodlight features a 2kW metal halide lamp with an output of 202,000 lumens. This provides a light level of 2000 lumens 1.5m above the track, which is five times the light levels found in a typical office.
http://www.building.co.uk/buildings/products/roofing/2012-olympic-stadium-foodlighting-system/5011410.article
Contractors from across the UK have been appointed to build one of the last London 2012 venues.
East London firm ES Group, which was previously based on the Olympic park site, has been appointed to build the main structure of the 5,000-seat Water Polo Arena.
The events and staging specialist was relocated from the Olympic park site to the nearby Docklands area as part of the relocation of businesses to enable construction on the Olympics to start.
Previous ES Group projects include building stages for the 2010 Ryder Cup and various music concerts.
http://www.building.co.uk/news/regions/london/contractors-splash-into-2012-water-polo-arena/5011666.article
David Cameron turns the 2012 stadium’s 543 floodlights on for the first time
The 2012 Olympic stadium’s 532 floodlights were turned on for the first time yesterday, as the ODA announced it had completed the installation of the spectator seating.
The floodlighting has been designed for HD broadcasts and will produce the same level of illumination as around 18,000 household bulbs.
http://www.building.co.uk/news/regions/south-east/populous-and-t-clarke-light-up-london-olympic-stadium/5010875.article
Aggreko has won a £37m exclusive contract to provide temporary energy services for London 2012.
The firm announced it will also be a sponsor of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
http://www.building.co.uk/news/breaking-news/aggreko-wins-olympic-role/5010719.article
Housebuilder Barratt and Manchester-based developer Urban Splash are amongst nine consortiums shortlisted to take on the athlete’s village and surrounding development sites after the 2012 Olympic Games.
Also included on the Olympic Delivery Authority’s shortlist are Qatari Diar, the backer behind the Shard and the ill-fated Chelsea Barracks development, housebuilder Galliard Homes, and contractor Sir Robert McAlpine.
The winning bidder will take on the 1,500 private homes of the athlete’s village, as well as six surrounding development sites for up to 2,500 houses. The development was originally to have been built and funded by Australian developer Lend Lease, who pulled out of the deal when the credit crunch hit.
http://www.building.co.uk/sectors/housing/barratt-and-urban-splash-in-contention-for-olympics/5010701.article
The canoe slalom course for London 2012 has been completed by Morrison Construction, on budget and over 18 months before the games begin.
The ten hectare site is the first Olympic venue to be completed, containing a 300m competition course and facilities building.
Before and after 2012 the venue will be used for competitions, training and as a sporting and leisure facility for canoeing and white water rafting.
Lee Valley White Water Centre will be open to the public from April 2011.
http://www.building.co.uk/news/contractors/morrison-hands-over-olympic-canoe-venue/5010183.article
Bob Neill, the minister for the Thames Gateway, announced the funding for the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) last week, as well as confirming that the Olympic Delivery Authority would receive £300m to transform venues after the Games.
However, Building understands the specific deal with the OPLC has not been finalised, despite Neill saying £217m was on the table.
Neill said the £500m package proved that the region was “open for business” despite the scrapping of the dedicated fund for the Thames Gateway in the spending review.
“Rumours of the Thames Gateway’s demise are somewhat wide of the mark,” he said.
http://www.building.co.uk/news/olympic-park-legacy-company-scoops-£200m-over-four-years/5009827.article
Thames gateway minister Bob Neill unveiled a £500m funding package for regeneration schemes in and around the Olympic Park to ensure public realm improvements after the 2012 games.
Bob Neill said the money proved that the regeneration region was “open for business” despite the scrapping of the dedicated fund for the Thames Gateway in the Comprehenesive Spending Review. Neill said £300m of the money was being given to the Olympic Delivery Authority for transformation works after the games, with £217m being given to other organisations to prepare the site for redevelopment.
http://www.building.co.uk/sectors/housing/housing-news/bob-neill-unveils-£500m-olympics-regeneration-fund/5009605.article
The cost of the Olympic aquatic centre has risen by a further £11m because of attempts to speed up construction to make up for earlier delays, and new concerns over whether it’ll be warm enough for competitors.
The stadium, designed by architect Zaha Hadid and being built by Balfour Beatty, will now cost £268m, more than £50m more than the £214m anticipated in the Olympic Delivery Authority’s baseline budget, and almost four times the £75m cost in the London olympics bid.
The new costings were revealed by outgoing ODA chief executive David Higgins as he launched the latest quarterly review of progress on the project. This also revealed that the decision to remove the planned “digital wrap” around the stadium, alongside other savings, now meant the flagship Sir Robert McAlpine scheme will be completed to the original £496m budget.
In total the anticipated final cost of the games fell by £29m over the last three months.
http://www.building.co.uk/news/breaking-news/delays-push-olympic-aquatic-centre-cost-up-£11m/5008700.article
The Olympic Park’s Energy Centre was unveiled today. The building, designed by John McAslan & Partners, was officially opened by mayor of London Boris Johnson and ODA chief executive David Higgins.
The centre will help reduce the carbon emissions of the Olympic Park and is the largest energy centre scheme to be built so far in the UK.
It will provide an efficient low-carbon heating and cooling system across the site for the Games and for the new buildings and communities that will develop after 2012.
http://www.building.co.uk/technical/sustainability/olympic-energy-centre-opens/5007574.article
A revised masterplan for the Olympic park after 2012 has been drawn up that reveals a shift away from high-density apartments to more traditional, family homes.
Following a consultation the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) has generated plans for the construction of about 8,000 homes, excluding the 2,800-home athletes’ village.
This is a reduction from the original plan for 10,000-12,000 units.
Margaret Ford, chair of the OPLC, said this week that it had become clear during the consultation that the original scheme, which was devised by Aecom, Allies and Morrison and KCAP, was not appropriate to the park setting.
“Many of the blocks were bland and soulless and turned their backs on the park,” said Ford.
The masterplan will go for outline planning consent next year.
http://www.building.co.uk/sectors/housing/revised-post-olympic-plans-ditch-âsoullessâ-apartments/5006912.article
The Olympic Delivery Authority has launched an appeal to developers to buy the Athletes’ Village and surrounding development sites totalling up to 4,000 new homes after the games.
The ODA, which paid for the 2,818-home development after the credit crunch put paid to plans for Lend Lease to fund it, is now looking for private developers to recoup its £1.2bn investment in the village.
The call for expressions of interest doesn’t include half of these dwellings, as a consortium of housing associations with regeneration developer First Base, called Triathlon Homes, has already bought these to turn into affordable homes after the games.
However, the offer does include a number of development sites, upon which up to 2,500 homes could be built, as predicted by Building. The ODA gained ownership of these sites in the spring following a deal with the original land owner London and Continental Railways, in exchange for ODA options and covenants on other land south of Stratford International rail station.
http://www.building.co.uk/sectors/housing/housing-news/government-puts-olympic-village-up-for-sale/5006654.article
Images of progress on the Olympic velodrome were unveiled today by the Olympic Delivery Authority, which has installed a new webcam to track progress.
With the double-curved roof fitted and the building watertight, the timber cycling track is being fitted at the velodrome, which will seat 6,000 spectators for the track cycling events in 2012.
Construction work started on the velodrome in March 2009 and the venue is expected to be completed early next year, making it the first Olympic park venue to be completed.
The cycling track is intended to be the fastest in the world, which is to be achieved by tailoring the track geometry and setting the temperature and environmental conditions within the venue.
http://www.building.co.uk/news/track-goes-down-at-2012-velodrome/5005726.article
Bovis Lend Lease, Turner & Townsend, Capita Symonds and Rider Levitt Bucknall have won a £900m framework deal for temporary structures during the Olympic Games, Building understands
The so-called overlay contract was awarded by Olympic Games organising body Locog and the four firms will act as project managers to deliver structures such as the screen around the main stadium, concession tents and logistics and training centres at 150 venues.
http://www.building.co.uk/news/four-firms-win-£900m-olympic-temporary-structures-job/5005005.article
The Olympic Delivery Authority has opened bidding for the future tenant of the Olympic Stadium - and the athletics track is definitely staying.
The authority said there is “a group of interested parties” which now have six weeks to submit bids. The winner will sign a long-term lease and become the anchor tenant of the brand new stadium.
Football club West Ham United is the favourite to take over the stadium, with cricket organisers and rugby teams having also shown interest. According to the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC), which is handling the stadium’s future, all participants have agreed to the stadium keeping its athletics facilities and possibly adding commercial, health or educational facilities.
The participants also favoured the stadium being reduced from its Olympic Games capacity of 80,000 seats, to between 25,000 and 60,000.
http://www.building.co.uk/news/bidding-starts-for-olympic-stadium-legacy/5004311.article
The Olympic Delivery Authority spent almost £1m working up plans for a wind turbine on the Olympic park only for it to be scrapped last month, the organisation has admitted.
In accounts published last week, the ODA said the proposal for a 130m-high turbine had incurred “abortive” costs of £842,000 for its procurement, design and related consultancy.
An ODA spokesperson said the cost also included early work to the Eton Manor site and legal fees. He said: “We wouldn’t have spent that amount if we didn’t think it was reasonable.”
David Higgins, the ODA’s chief executive, said in June that it had been forced to withdraw plans for the turbine after the project timetable and health and safety legislation meant the only contractor for the project pulled out.
http://www.building.co.uk/news/scrapped-turbine-for-olympic-park-cost-almost-£1m/5003442.article
Today marks exactly two years to go until the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games and to celebrate the milestone athletes and Olympic officials will be travelling from St Pancras to the Olympic Park.
Seb Coe, organising committee chair, John Armitt, Olympic Delivery Authority Chairman, Olympics minister Hugh Robertson and mayor of London Boris Johnson will be showcasing the latest progress on the Olympic Park.
They will then take a tour of the Olympic Park and, for the first time, step inside venues to see the progress being made in construction, which the ODA says is on time and on budget.
They will also walk across the main spectator bridge which will be the “front door” to the Olympic Park in 2012, joined by 70 Visa Team 2012 athlet
http://www.building.co.uk/news/two-years-to-go-to-london-2012/5003375.article
The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) has completed its latest set of building milestones for the 2012 London Games, it was announced today.
The objectives, set in summer 2009 as part of the wider ‘Big Build’ Olympic construction project, have been completed on time and pave the way for completion of the final stages on the entire Olympic project.
http://www.building.co.uk/news/breaking-news/olympics-hits-latest-milestones/5002837.article
The plan with the velodrome was to make it as lean as a racing bike, says Chris Wise, one of its designers
The roofs of the 2012 aquatics centre and velodrome are of a similar shape and size. However, whereas the former contains 3,000 tonnes of steel, the velodrome roof is held up with just 100 tonnes. This is reflected in a radical difference in budget (£250m vs £95m), but also in the technical solutions that were used.
If this lavish use of steel for the aquatics centre seems extravagant, remember that it was the jewel in the crown of the UK’s Olympic bid and was instrumental in winning the Games for London. Other venues, like the warehouse-like media centre, were deliberately designed as simple, unadventurous structures so that they would be easy and cheap to build, and a cash-conscious public couldn’t accuse the government of wasting public money on architectural fripperies.
But the parsimonious use of steel in the velodrome roof in no way indicates that this is a mean building. The designers have turned economy into a virtue and created an elegant, considered structure that includes its own brand of roof dramatics. “We were trying to create something as lean and honed down as a racing bike would be - maximum performance from minimal materials,” says Chris Wise, director of structural engineer Expedition. “The natural beauty would come out of this as it does with performance bikes, fast cars and women.”
http://www.building.co.uk/buildings/2012-countdown-the-velodrome/5002067.article
Picture the scene: Jonathan Edwards, Tim Henman and Dame Tanni Grey-Thomson sitting around a boardroom table, arguing about door handles. That’s what you might see if you took a wrong turn at Locog HQ and stumbled into one of the bimonthly athletes committee meetings. It’s a requirement of the International Olympic Committee that there is an athlete representative on the board of the local organising committee, but for London 2012, the organisers have taken it one step further and assembled an entire subcommittee to guide all decisions from the design of the venues to the logistics of the Games themselves.
Chairing the athletes committee and sitting on the main board is Edwards, one of Britain’s most successful athletes and holder of the world record for the triple jump. He has agreed to give Building an athlete’s perspective on the Olympic village, a standing item on the agenda. “If you take the field of play, it’s standard across the world. A track is a track and it’s strictly governed by international federations. The village is the one area where there’s a huge amount of variation across host cities,” he says.
http://www.building.co.uk/buildings/2012-countdown-jonathan-edwards-and-the-olympic-village/5002051.article
Just as every gold medallist has a backroom staff of trainers, physios and doctors to thank for their achievement, so too the Olympic venues have a hidden support network.
The infrastructure on the Olympic site might not grab any headlines, but it’s a massive factor in the success or otherwise of the 2012 project.
“Infrastructure is the unsung hero of this project,” says Simon Wright, infrastructure director of the Olympic site, sitting in one of its many offices. “It is definitely in the shadow of the venues. To be fair, I can see why. The Games are about sport and the sport happens in the venues. The infrastructure is just here as a supporting mechanism. But it’s a very important one. It’s a massive long-term investment.”
In terms of where the infrastructure work is up to at the moment, Wright insists everything is on track for a timely delivery on budget. “We are where we expected to be,” he says. “A lot of the bridges are in and we’re now into finishing the utilities and completing all the circuits. The electrical network is already live and operational.”
http://www.building.co.uk/buildings/2012-countdown-infrastructure/5001925.article
The Olympics may need a basketball venue the size of an aeroplane hanger, but London can probably get by without one after they’re over. So they’ve made the whole thing demountable
Over two months, a structure large enough to house a Boeing 747 has materialised at the northern end of the Olympic park, between the velodrome and the Olympic village. The 10-storey building has become the site’s third largest venue. But what sets it apart - and goes some way to explaining its rapid arrival - is that it’s not a permanent fixture. After the Paralympics, it will leave without trace.
The notion of using temporary venues is a key part of the Olympic Delivery Authority’s (ODA) white elephant hunt. And although basketball is a popular Olympic sport, London is unlikely to have much use for a 12,000-seat arena. So it was an ideal candidate to be a temporary venue, says Paul Snoddy, project sponsor for the arena with the ODA.
But how do you design something so huge so it can be packed up and trucked away like a wedding marquee? Here’s how …
http://www.building.co.uk/buildings/2012-countdown-the-temporary-basketball-venue/5001901.article
One year from now, the 80,000-seat Olympic stadium has to be ready. Will it make it?
It is said that one in three of the world’s population tunes in for the opening ceremony to an Olympic Games. With 4 billion eyes watching, the pressure is on to make sure things run to plan.
http://www.building.co.uk/buildings/2012-countdown-the-stadium/5001929.article
Building got a sneak preview of the landscaping underway at Stratford, which includes 300,000 plants, flood management technology and a fish refuge
http://www.building.co.uk/comment/olympic-park-landscaping-begins-with-planting-6000-trees/5001728.article
Images of the athletes’ village for the 2012 London Olympics have been released.
The facilities, which have been under construction for two years, will be used by competitors at the Olympic and Paralympic Games. After the Games, owners and managers Triathlon Homes will use the accommodation to provide 2,818 homes, of which 1,379 will be affordable. New parks and open spaces will be added.
Construction work started on the village in June 2008 and three-quarters of the residential plots are now structurally complete. The village’s four-storey education campus, Chobham Academy, is structurally complete up to the second. Earthworks are also underway on the site of the village’s polyclinic.
http://www.building.co.uk/2012-athletes-village-takes-shape/5000647.article
A Tesco mixed-use development near the London Olympic site was granted planning permission last night, despite having been blasted by Cabe.
The Bromley-by-Bow scheme will involve the replacement of a current Tesco supermarket with a new one double its size, as well as a hotel, 403 residential units, a library and 18 shops, all designed by architect ColladoCollins. There will also be a school and a riverside park.
http://www.building.co.uk/news/olympic-tesco-gets-green-light/5000413.article
Tory MP Hugh Robertson has been appointed minister for sports and Olympics at the Department for Culture Media and Sport.
Robertson, who shadowed the role in opposition, is known for having championed the cause of West Ham FC moving to the Olympic stadium from the opposition benches.
http://www.building.co.uk/olympics-minister-appointed/3163614.article
Newly installed Olympic minister Jeremy Hunt has warned cuts of about £60m could be made to the scheme's funding as the government comes to grips with reducing with the country’s budget deficit.
Speaking on BBC’s Newsnight programme Hunt, secretary of state for culture, Olympics, media and sport, said he had held talks with civil servants in his department to discuss budget cuts.
He said: “Olympic money is not protected, none of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s budgets are protected, and we’re looking at all of them and saying, ‘can we save this money without affecting our core services?’ ”
Last month, parliament’s Public Accounts Committee warned that the Olympic project was facing a “worryingly tight” financial position. It said that while construction work was “on track”, unforeseen problems were putting pressure on contingency funds.
http://www.building.co.uk/olympic-minister-warns-of-£60m-cut/3163422.article
Jeremy Hunt, who was Conservative shadow culture secretary, has been appointed culture, Olympics, media and sport secretary, while Hugh Robertson, who was shadow Olympics and sports minister, becomes Olympics minister.
Hunt has a larger portfolio than his predecessor Ben Bradshaw, who was solely responsible for the Olympics as a second minister, while Robertson replaces Tessa Jowell, whom he has shadowed since London won the Games in 2004.
http://www.building.co.uk/jeremy-hunt-new-olympics-secretary/3163363.article
The Olympic Delivery Authority has advertised its last major construction contract, to design and build hockey pitches for the 2012 games.
The job will run as a framework agreement over four years and includes the supply, installation and maintenance of pitches, which will be used for hockey during the games and for five and seven-a-side football during the paralympic games.
http://www.building.co.uk/news/olympics-hockey-contract-out-to-tender/3162141.article
Update Sources
