The Velodrome
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Proceedings of ICE Civil Engineering 164 November 2011 Pages 51–58 Paper 11-00028 http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/cien.2011.164.6.51 Keywords buildings, structures & design; olympics; sustainability Delivering London 2012: the Velodrome Richard Arnold The 6000-seat Velodrome is host venue for track cycling during BSc, MRICS is project sponsor at the Olympic the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Delivery Authority as well as the centrepiece for a velopark in legacy mode. As described in this paper, it is designed around optimal spectator and performance volumes, and every element was reduced to an absolute minimum so the structure and environmental services are as light as possible. This resulted in an innovative design, Chris Banister BA, BArch, RIBA including a lightweight cable-net roof that reduced the embodied is a partner at Hopkins Architects carbon dioxide content by 45% compared with a traditional steel structure and cut the construction period by 5 months. The energy performance of the building also maximises natural ventilation and use of daylight. Andrew Weir MSc, CEng, MICE, MIStructE is an engineer at Expedition The Velodrome is one of the permanent added a 1·6 km road circuit and 7 km venues to be built for the London 2012 of mountain bike trails, which will Olympic and Paralympic Games and be owned and operated by Lee Val- is located in the north of the Olympic ley Regional Park Authority (Figure 1). Park in Stratford. After the games, the Schools, colleges, the general public and venue will become the centrepiece of a practising athletes alike will be able to new ‘velopark’ alongside a re-configured use the facilities for years to come. Olympic BMX track. To these will be A permanent velopark was a key Davendra Dabasia MSC, ICIOB is CLM project manager for the Velodrome Dean Goodliffe BSc is principal contractor at ISG Figure 1. The Velodrome will become the centrepiece of a new legacy velopark, with a reconfigured Olympic BMX track, 1·6 km road circuit and 7 km of mountain bike trails CIVIL ENGINEERING 51 ARNOLD, BANISTER, WEIR, Dabasia AND GOODLIFFE promise of London’s bid for the 2012 tal conditions for record breaking and n To use manufacturing and construction games. The site was previously home highlighting the importance of dedicated expertise from the earliest opportunity. to Eastway Cycle Centre’s road circuit athletes’ toilets close to the track. n To have low embodied energy. and off-road trails course, so one of the At the heart of the delivery of the n To allow low in-use energy Olympic Delivery Authority’s (ODA’s) project, ODA was looking for a team of requirement – as an absolute minimum commitments was to replace and designers that would work in partnership to perform at least 15% better than enhance these facilities after the games. to deliver the highest quality in design, the Building Regulations 2006 part L. A competition for the design of the innovation and sustainability – ‘a team, n To connect to the park-wide district Velodrome and surrounding velopark not a scheme’. This led to a truly collabo- heat and power system. was launched in February 2007, result- rative effort. n To achieve a Breeam sustainability ing in over 100 entries. This led to the assessment of ‘excellent’. appointment of a design team compris- The key performance criteria n To treat the design and construction ing Hopkins as architect, Expedition as process as one single collaborative structural and civil engineer, BDSP as The key performance criteria for the exercise. service engineer and Grant Associates as Velodrome included the following. landscape architect. Track designer Ron The conceptual response Webb was appointed directly by ODA. n To be constructed on a site that ODA’s brief for the Velodrome was for partly overlies the disused West Ham The concept for the Velodrome was a 6000 seat venue that would provide refuse tip. inspired by its future role as a hub for all top-class cycling facilities both for the n To operate a 250 m long hand-laid forms of cycling within the Olympic Park. games and in legacy, and would be a timber track in a range of modes, from The conceptual challenge was how to venue to inspire generations today and in daily public practice sessions in winter form a symbolic and visual link between the future. To deliver these expectations, with very low overall occupancy to the indoor track and the range of external ODA ran a Royal Institute of British a full 6000-seat arena for televised forms of cycling that would be on offer Architects (Riba) design competition that events in summer with elite riders after the games including BMX, mountain included four-times Olympic gold medal- (such as London 2012). bike, cyclo-cross and road cycling. Not list Chris Hoy on the jury. Hoy also pro- n To integrate fully into the London only did the team want to break down the vided subsequent input to the appointed 2012 master plan (games and legacy) barriers between the various disciplines design team from an athlete’s perspective providing a key architectural ‘anchor’ but it also wanted all of these activities as to what was important in creating a for the north of the park. to be immediately visible, including the state-of-the-art velodrome. His insights n To be easily convertible after the indoor track, from the legacy park. ranged from providing seating all the games into legacy mode. The formal response was very simple – way round and improving the intensity n To employ latest or first-principles the team split the 6000 seats in the brief of the atmosphere for the crowd and the design to maximise overall horizontally so that half were around athletes to creating the right environmen- performance. the perimeter of the track and the other The concept for the Velodrome was inspired by its future role as a hub for all forms of cycling within the Figure 2. The design concept was for a concourse viewing gallery that links the internal cycling environment with the external cycling circuits Olympic Park 52 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS – CIVIL ENGINEERING, 2011, 164, No. CE6 ISSN 0965 089 X DELIVERING LONDON 2012: THE VELODROME half were raised into the roof space construction programme by 5–6 months collaborative approach of the whole design (Figure 2). By creating this separation, and jeopardised the March 2011 con- team working with specialist subcontrac- the team was able to introduce a band of struction completion date. tors occurred throughout the project, with glazing around the spectator concourse A study was commissioned into alterna- notable success on the tensioned cable forming a continuous ‘picture window’ tive roof systems, including a tensioned roof but also on the structural timber roof between the internal environment of cable-net, compressive steel arches, glu- cassettes, the Kalzip roof and the external the 250 m track and the external cycle lam timber arches and a cable–timber western red cedar cladding. circuits within the park. The resulting hybrid system. From this, the cable-net concourse is a viewing gallery, where it is roof emerged as the preferred option as, Structural concept possible to watch over all the disciplines despite its relatively high capital cost, this The pivotal design decision in the simultaneously. The architectural look of was offset by the much faster construction structure was to integrate the cable roof the Velodrome is of a minimal ‘shrink- programme. The virtual elimination of all structure fully with that of the grid shell wrapped void’ defined by an ethereal scaffolding and temporary works effective- of the seating bowl, rather than allow and transparent waistline. Working as an ly provided a cost-neutral, faster and less them to move relatively independently of integrated design team, the team pursued risky solution and was ultimately adopted. each other, as is usually the case for large an agenda of form following function. Overall, the programme was achieved in stadia. This decision allowed the curved Inspired by the dynamism and geom- 23 months and completed 8 weeks ahead seating bowl to receive roof forces direct- etry of the Siberian pine track and the of the construction completion date. ly, either to carry them in cantilever action engineering rigour of high-performance Importantly, the cable net also gave a or to share and distribute them around bikes, the team set out to design a build- 45% saving in total embodied carbon down to the substructure (Figure 4). ing that made no distinction between dioxide in the primary structural elements architecture and engineering. The aim over the steel-arch option. This was pri- was for the resulting form to be lean and marily achieved by the reduction in the efficient, and to perform at the highest roof steel weight from 1300 t to 160 t. sporting levels in terms of function. It is The contractor instigated a series of designed around the minimum specta- workshops that ran in parallel with the tor and performance volume, and every revised detailed design programme. The element was reduced to an absolute key to the success of the new roof scheme minimum so that the structure and the was having clarity on the lines of responsi- environmental services are as intrinsi- bility in relation to design and then allow- Figure 3. Cross-section of seating tiers – lean cally light as possible (Figure 3). ing the specialist input to be integrated into construction has resulted in an intrinsically light The upper bowl is an outward expres- the project at key strategic moments. This structure sion of the track since its geometry flows from the upper tier of seats that is, in turn, tightly wrapped around the track perimeter.