Olympic Park, London

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Olympic Park
Olympic Park in April 2012
Map of the Olympic Park
Coordinates: 51°32′46″N 0°00′46″W / 51.54615°N 0.01269°W / 51.54615; -0.01269Coordinates: 51°32′46″N 0°00′46″W / 51.54615°N 0.01269°W / 51.54615; -0.01269
Country England, United Kingdom
City London
London Borough Newham, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Hackney
District Stratford, Bow, Leyton, Homerton
Time zone UTC (UTC0)
 • Summer (DST) BST (UTC+1)
Postcode E20
Website london2012.com

The Olympic Park, in London, United Kingdom, is a sporting complex built for the 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Paralympics, situated to the east of the city adjacent to the Stratford City development. It contains the athletes' Olympic Village and several of the sporting venues including the Olympic Stadium and London Aquatics Centre, besides the London Olympics Media Centre. The park is overlooked by the ArcelorMittal Orbit, an observation tower and Britain's largest piece of public art. It was announced that after the Olympics, the park would be renamed the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II,[1] though it will not be an official Royal Park of London.[2] The park occupies an area straddling four east London boroughs; Newham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Waltham Forest. The park will reopen in July 2013.[3]

Contents

Location [edit]

The site covers parts of Stratford, Bow, Leyton, and Hackney Wick in East London, overlooking the A12 road. The site was previously a mixture of greenfield and brownfield land, including parts of Hackney Marshes.[4]

The Royal Mail has given the park and Stratford City the postcode E20, which previously only appeared in the television soap opera EastEnders for the fictional suburb of Walford.[5]

Transport [edit]

Four railway stations are located in the immediate vicinity of the park:

Design [edit]

The park was designed by the EDAW Consortium (including EDAW and Buro Happold), working with Arup and WS Atkins. The park, including legacy, was taken over by LDA Design in conjunction with Hargreaves Associates and in collaboration with Arup and Atkins. LDA design contracted Wallace whittle to carry out various aspects of the M+E Building services design. The NHBC carried out the Sustainability assessments.

London's Olympic and Paralympic bid proposed that there would be four indoor arenas in the park in addition to the main venues, but the revised master plan published in 2006 reduced this to three, with the volleyball events moved to the Earls Court Exhibition Centre.[6] The fencing arena was also cancelled, with the fencing events taking place at ExCeL London. The remaining indoor arenas are the Basketball Arena and the Copper Box, in addition to the Water Polo Arena, the Aquatics Centre, and the Velopark. The final design of the park was approved by the Olympic Delivery Authority and its planning-decisions committee.

Construction [edit]

To enable the major phase of construction to begin, the 52 electricity pylons, up to 65 metres (213 feet) high, that dominated the landscape in and around the park were removed, and the electricity for the park is now run through underground tunnels.[7]

Main Facilities [edit]

File:London Aquatics Centre
The Aquatics Centre post olympics with the winged seating removed.

Legacy [edit]

Further information: London 2012 Olympic Legacy

The park is being put to a number of uses now that the Olympics have finished:[8][9]

  • It will form a key part of the new East London Tech City technology hub.[10]
  • The park will be transformed into one of the largest urban parks created in Europe for more than 150 years, designed to enrich the local ecology by restoring wetland habitats and planting native species.[11]
  • A new university will be founded to make use of the sporting facilities and high-tech communications infrastructure remaining after the Olympics and will specialise in sport science, digital media and green technology.[9]
  • The Olympic Village will be converted into 3,600 apartments as East Village, located next to the Stratford City development.
  • The Manor Garden Allotments will be reinstated.[12]
  • Further housing as well as amenities will be constructed.[citation needed]
  • The park will be home to the ArcelorMittal Orbit, a steel tower which is the largest public work of art in the UK. After the Olympics, it will be used as a tourist attraction.[13]
  • On 27 February 2012, it was announced that an Olympic Museum will be opened at the park in 2014.[14]

On 2 August 2011, it was announced that the five new communities to occupy the site eventually will be named (anti-clockwise from north-east) Chobham Manor, East Wick, Sweetwater, Pudding Mill, and Marshgate Wharf. All these names have historical backgrounds.[15] All four of the East London boroughs covering the park will have a neighbourhood except for Waltham Forest.

Future international sporting events [edit]

Although the sporting venues in the Olympic Park will be reduced in scale after the conclusion of London 2012, part of the legacy is to ensure the continued use of those facilities that are permanent, both as local and community resources and for major international sporting events that make use of the world class facilities constructed for the Olympics and Paralympics.:

  • In 2010, a bid was submitted to use the Olympic Stadium as the venue for the 2015 World Athletics Championships. Owing to the then uncertainty over the future use of the stadium, this bid was withdrawn, with instead a subsequent bid for the 2017 World Championships submitted instead. The success of this bid was announced in November 2011.[16]
  • It was announced in March 2012 that England will host the 2015 European Hockey Championships, which will take place at the revamped Lee Valley Hockey Centre.[17]
  • London was announced as the only formal bidder for the 2017 IPC World Athletic Championships in October 2012.[18]
  • In December 2012 the International Tennis Federation announced that the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre would host the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters between 2014 and 2016.[19]

London has also bid for the right to hold both the UCI Track Cycling World Championships and the LEN European Aquatics Championships in 2016, which would be held at the Velodrome and Aquatics Centre respectively.[20][21]

Resident sports clubs [edit]

In addition to the use of the venues for international events, some of them are intended for use on a regular basis by professional sports teams in various sports.

Olympic Stadium [edit]

Main article: Olympic Stadium (London)#Post-Olympics

On 11 February 2011, West Ham United were selected as preferred bidders, ahead of Tottenham Hotspur, to take over the stadium as a football venue after the end of the games. However, five days later Leyton Orient chairman Barry Hearn announced that he would be challenging the decision to allow West Ham to relocate to the stadium, as he believed that having West Ham playing within one mile (two kilometres) of their Brisbane Road stadium could cost Orient support and even their existence.[22] Incidentally, Hearn had expressed interest some years earlier in moving Orient to Olympic Park and reducing its capacity to 25,000 seats,[23] while West Ham would cut the capacity to 60,000 if their relocation went ahead.[24]

Copper Box [edit]

The Copper Box will be the only permanent indoor arena remaining after the end of London 2012. Built primarily for use in the handball and goalball competitions, it will be converted to a multi-use venue that will include use for basketball. As a result of the owners of the Prestige Homes Arena in Milton Keynes terminating their lease, the London Lions basketball club, after a season at the National Sports Centre, Selhurst, will relocate to the Copper Box (upon conversion).[25]

Concerts [edit]

In January 2013 music concert promoter Live Nation won the right to stage shows at the stadium and in the surrounding park. The park is set to host music events in July 2013, but the stadium will not be used.[26] The former site of the Riverbank Arena is set to be used to stage the Hard Rock Calling and Wireless festivals.[27]

See also [edit]

Portal icon Architecture portal
Portal icon London portal
Portal icon Olympics portal

References [edit]

  1. ^ Games Site Renamed the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park BBC News, 7 October 2010; Retrieved 12 May 2012
  2. ^ Minton, Anna (2012). Ground Control (2nd ed.). Penguin. Retrieved 25 June 2012. 
  3. ^ http://noordinarypark.co.uk/where/ Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  4. ^ Protest stirs in troubled east - Paul Kelso in The Guardian February 15, 2005 date accessed: 30 October 2006
  5. ^ Olympic Park To Share EastEnders' Walford E20 Postcode BBC News, 19 March 2011; Retrieved 12 May 2012
  6. ^ "London Unveils Olympic Masterplan". BBC Sport. 7 June 2006. Retrieved 16 July 2012. 
  7. ^ Last pylon removed from Olympic Park as £250m powerlines project delivered on time and to budget London 2012, 9 December 2008
  8. ^ Building London 2012 London 2012
  9. ^ a b Gourlay, Chris (19 April 2009). "University To Be Built in London Olympic Park". The Times.  (subscription required)
  10. ^ "Cameron Reveals Silicon Valley Vision for East London". BBC News. 3 November 2010. Retrieved 16 July 2012. 
  11. ^ "London Games Promises Beautiful Green Legacy". London Press Service. 1 February 2012. 
  12. ^ Last Stand on Olympic Allotments BBC News, 24 September 2007; Retrieved 16 July 2012
  13. ^ Brown, Mark (31 March 2010). "Climb This: Anish Kapoor's Massive Artwork That Will Tower over London". guardian.co.uk. 
  14. ^ Olympic Museum To Be Opened on Olympic Park after London 2012 Inside the Games, 27 February 2012
  15. ^ "London 2012 Olympic Park Neighbourhood Names Revealed". BBC News. 2 August 2011. 
  16. ^ IAAF.org (25 August 2007). "London selected to host 2017 IAAF World Championships". iaaf.org. Retrieved 2011-11-13. 
  17. ^ England To Host 2015 European Hockey Championships at Olympic Park Inside the Games, 21 March 2012
  18. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/paralympic-sport/9618818/Olympic-Stadium-set-to-host-2017-World-Paralympic-Championships.html
  19. ^ "Olympic Park to stage NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters". ITF tennis. 3 December 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2012. 
  20. ^ "Double celebration for capital's cyclists as Mayor and British Cycling announce London to bid for Track Cycling World Championships - London & Partners". Londonandpartners.com. 22 July 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-29. 
  21. ^ "London bids for European Swimming Championships 2016 - London & Partners". Londonandpartners.com. Retrieved 2012-08-29. 
  22. ^ "Olympic Stadium Ruling Challenged". FootballFanCast.com. Snack Media. 21 February 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2012. 
  23. ^ McNulty, Phil (8 November 2006). "Orient Reveal Olympic Switch Hope". BBC Sport. Retrieved 8 June 2012. 
  24. ^ "Orient Enters Arena over Olympic Stadium Future". FMWorld. British Institute of Facilities Management. 16 February 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2012. 
  25. ^ "REVEALED: Lions to leave Milton Keynes for Olympic Park in London". Milton Keynes Citizen. 9 August 2012. Retrieved 2012-09-11. 
  26. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/jan/22/live-nation-olympic-stadium
  27. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21139786

External links [edit]

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