The Olympic Park is where names will be made, records broken, new legends created: it is going to be centre stage during the summer of 2012 – and long after. The nine new world-class sporting venues (six of them permanent) will be a fantastic setting for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. After the Games, the Park will be transformed into the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and will be the focus of the regeneration of this part of London. The new permanent venues and infrastructure will be the foundations for the continuing development of this area of east London for decades to come. Olympic Park venues 6 7 Olympic Park The Olympic Park is at the After the Games, the Park and broken up by rivers, elsewhere, electricity pylons heart of the London 2012 – to be renamed the Queen roads and railways. Parts were dismantled and the Olympic and Paralympic Elizabeth Olympic Park – of the area had been used rivers were dredged. Two Games. will become the largest new as a dumping ground for million tonnes of soil were urban park in the UK for industrial and domestic cleaned with 80 per cent Nine new world-class over a century, with the new waste and much of the land reused to form the new sporting venues, the Olympic sporting venues, parklands had been taken over by Park landscape. and Paralympic Village and and residential developments invasive species such as media centres, all set in becoming the focus of this Japanese knotweed, and Following the clean-up, fantastic new parklands, part of east London. polluted with contaminants the construction of the main will be a fabulous stage such as oil, tar and lead. venues and infrastructure of for the world’s athletes The area is unrecognisable the Park was achieved in less to perform at their best. from 2005, when London Work to transform the Park than three years. With the won the right to host the began in 2007. Before project completed on time 2012 Games. Seven construction could start, the and within budget, the Park years ago, the 2.5 square land had to be cleared and is a showcase for the best kilometre site was home to cleaned. Disused buildings of UK plc – great design, light industry, dominated were demolished, with engineering, construction by overhead powerlines, materials recycled or reused and project management. 8 9 Olympic Park by numbers 10,000 286,446 pages in the planning people went on free bus application for the Olympic tours of the Olympic Park 0 53m Park that was submitted by between 2007 and 2012 people lost their lives while is the height of the Olympic the ODA, one of the longest working on construction of Stadium, 3m taller than ever in Europe main venues and infrastructure Nelson’s Column for the London 2012 Games 300,000 nails were used to fi x in 46,000+ place 56km of timber to 88 people were employed form the track surface of 2.5sq km rooftop pipes bring natural on the Olympic Park and the Velodrome is the size of the Olympic light into the Copper Box Olympic and Paralympic Park – the same size as arena, reducing the need Village during the 357 football pitches for artifi cial power construction of the main venues and infrastructure, 300,000+ with the workforce peaking wetland plants have brought a at 12,000 splash of colour to parklands 4 532 surrounding Olympic and skeletons were removed individual fl oodlights in Paralympic venues from a prehistoric settlement 14 towers light up the found during excavation Olympic Stadium to meet the 180,000 work on the site of the needs of high-defi nition TV tiles line the swimming and Aquatics Centre diving pools in the Aquatics 2,000,000 Centre, with almost 600,000 tonnes of contaminated soil in the whole building was cleaned, with more than 675 80 per cent reused on the 5 bird and bat boxes are Olympic Park jumbo jets would fi t being installed to encourage wing tip to wing tip wildlife to make their home 200,000 inside the International in the Olympic Park temporary seats are Broadcast Centre being installed in the 10,000,000 fi nal transformation of the litres of water are needed Olympic Park by the London to fi ll the pools in the 4,000 2012 Organising Committee Aquatics Centre 52 new trees were planted huge electricity pylons in the Olympic Park and were dismantled to clear the Olympic and Paralympic landscape so construction Village, the fi rst by £1,004,000,000 could begin in the Her Majesty The Queen (€1.2bn/$1.5bn) of savings were made by the ODA Olympic Park in October 2009 to ensure the project remained within budget 10 11 Olympic Park map N metres 0 200 Wa lth a m Greenway Transport Hub F o r e s t Stratford station Westfield New ham High StreetWest Ham Stratford City station Stratford Olympic and International A12 Paralympic station Greenway Village Stratford Gate Gate Aquatics Centre S k t r a al t f o W r d Orbit y W a Water Circus w a n l e Polo k Orbit e y Arena Gr a w n BMX e e Track r Basketball G Arena The Eton Street Wetlands Manor Velodrome Market Olympic Walk d a Stadium o Park Live R Warm-up East p venue e r L e a o R i v o k L l k a l n o r W Londonon Wa yway M a River Lon nd a n o W t Lawns E Park Live A12 World a i West Britannia Square r o t Row c i V Eton Manor Ea CopperCopper r Energy stway Warm-up Box Gate Riverbank venue Box Centre Arena ute Victoria Eton Manor ss Ro Gate o Transport Hub International To wer Cr ast Broadcast E Centre H a mle t s Main Press Hac k n N Centre Hackney metres Entrance and exit Olympic sport Spectator zone Paralympic sport Entrance area Park Live Competition venues London Underground Warm-up venue National Rail Non-sports venue London Overground Back of house Docklands Light Railway © Crown Copyright and database right 2012. Ordnance Survey 100046062. You are not permitted to copy, sub-license, 12 distribute or sell any of this data to third parties in any form 13 Aquatics Centre Venue facts Olympic Games The Centre contains a 50m More than 180,000 tiles Diving, Swimming, competition pool, 25m line the pools; Paralympic Synchronised Swimming, competition diving pool swimmer Liz Johnson laid Modern Pentathlon and 50m warm-up pool. the last tile in April 2011. (swimming element) Its 3,000-tonne wave-like Archaeological investigations Paralympic Games steel roof is 160m long before construction discovered Swimming and up to 80m wide. an Iron Age settlement, including an ancient burial After the Games The roof rests on just two site with four skeletons. Pools open for use by the concrete supports at one community, schools and end of the building and After the Games, a créche, elite athletes; reopens in a supporting wall at the family-friendly training spring 2014 other – a longer single span facilities, cafe and new than Heathrow Terminal 5. public plaza will be Capacity added, and the venue’s 17,500 (reduced to 2,500 To reduce the amount of two temporary seating after the Games) mains water used, pool wings removed. water will be used to fl ush Construction the venue’s toilets. July 2008 – July 2011 14 15 Basketball Arena Venue facts Olympic sports The Arena is one of the It is 35m tall – the same Basketball (early rounds), largest temporary venues height as a 10-storey building. Handball (fi nals) ever built for any Olympic It was one of the quickest and Paralympic Games. Paralympic Games Olympic Park venues to Wheelchair Basketball, The 1,000-tonne steel be constructed, with its Wheelchair Rugby frame is covered in 20,000 giant frame erected in less square metres of recyclable than three months during After the Games PVC fabric. spring 2010. Dismantled with elements reused elsewhere It will be one of the most The seating of the arena heavily-used venues within is black and orange to Capacity the Olympic Park, with represent the colours of 12,000 (Olympics) competition events taking a basketball. 10,000 (Paralympics) place almost every day. Construction To comfortably accommodate October 2009 – July 2011 the basketball players, all the venue’s doorways are an above average 2.4m high. 16 17 BMX Track Venue facts Olympic Games The new BMX Track Construction was completed Cycling – BMX is located next to the in time for the third round Velodrome in the north of the UCI BMX Supercross After the Games of the Olympic Park. World Cup, a test event Temporary seating will for the London 2012 be removed and the track The fast and challenging BMX competition. reconfi gured to make it course starts with an suitable for riders of all 8m-high ramp. After the Games, it will ages and abilities form part of the Lee Valley Around 14,000 cubic metres VeloPark, along with Capacity of soil were used to build the the Velodrome and a new 6,000 Track, enough to fi ll three one-mile road cycle circuit 50m swimming pools. Construction and mountain bike courses March 2011 – This soil was excavated – to be owned and managed September 2011 from elsewhere on the by Lee Valley Regional Olympic Park site, Park Authority. cleaned, then reused to create the fi nal track.