Stratford City

For the shopping centre portion of Stratford City, see Westfield Stratford City.

Stratford City
Aerial view of Stratford City in June 2011
Stratford City Location within Greater London
OS grid reference	TQ385845
• Charing Cross	6 mi (9.7 km) WSW
London borough	Newham
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LONDON
Postcode district	E20
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
UK Parliament	West Ham
London Assembly	City and East

Stratford City is a mixed-use development project in Stratford, London, England, to the north of Stratford town centre. The main developers are the Westfield Group and Lendlease.

Stratford City is the name given to the urban community centred on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Based on Stratford Regional and Stratford International railway stations, it includes Stratford Cross, a joint venture between Lendlease and London and Continental Railways (LCR) to create a £2 billion commercial and residential development, the Westfield shopping centre, Chobham Academy, and the East Village, previously the athletes' village constructed by Lendlease for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Within Stratford City there is provision for 2,900,000-square-foot (270,000 m²) of retail and leisure space, 1,300,000-square-foot (120,000 m²) of hotel space, 6,600,000-square-foot (610,000 m²) of commercial district space, 16,400 new homes, 180,000-square-foot (17,000 m²) of community facilities, and two energy centres capable of providing 75% of the sites' energy needs. Royal Mail has allocated the postcode E20 to Stratford City and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Planning

The whole Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park site was proposed to be secured under a compulsory purchase order (CPO) by the London Development Agency. In late 2005, a row broke out between then Mayor of London Ken Livingstone and Newham Council/Westfield over the use of the legal instrument. The site for the Olympic Village was to be located next to the £4 billion development of Stratford City, but access difficulties meant that the Olympic Park CPO extended onto the site for Stratford City. In November 2005, an agreement was made whereby the CPO over the Westfield site was removed, subject to agreed access provisions to the Olympic Village.

The Olympic Village, home of the athletes during the 2012 Summer Games and was built as part of Lend Lease, would be redeveloped at the new East Village urban development as part of the legacy project.

Construction

Work started in early 2007, and the entire project was completed in 2012. Work was carried out in phases, with Phase 1 completed in 2011. Phase 1 includes 1.9 million ft² (150,000 m²) of retail and leisure space (see Westfield Stratford City), a 267-room Premier Inn hotel, 1.1m ft² of office space, and 4,850 new homes. The office space comprises a cluster of four tall office buildings: Stratford Place, at 130,000 ft²; The Square, at 200,000 ft²; First Avenue, at over 560,000 ft²; and Station Square, at 95,000 ft².

Transport

The site is adjacent to both the existing Stratford Regional station and the new Stratford International station. Stratford Regional station is served by London Overground, Docklands Light Railway, London Underground Central and Jubilee lines, National Rail services, and the Elizabeth line. Stratford International station is served by Southeastern domestic services on High Speed 1 and Docklands Light Railway services to London City Airport, Beckton and Woolwich Arsenal. Currently, no international services call at Stratford International. A pedestrian bridge connects the development to the existing Stratford town centre.

External links

• Official website