London, 15 July - Olympic Village Site Visit

15 July 2011

A group of members of NAWIC Ireland had a most enjoyable trip to London on 15 July 2011. The purpose of the trip was a site visit of the Olympic Park and afterwards we enjoyed a fantastic evening in the sunshine at the Keating Chambers annual garden party at Inner Temple Gardens. Our sincere thanks to Keating Chambers for organising the site visit and for their hospitality.

The Olympic Park is a massive construction project the likes of which we only rarely see and which not all of us are lucky enough to get the opportunity to work on. Here is a snapshot of the project.

On 27 July 2012 the eyes of the world will be on the Lower Lea Valley in London. An area of some 2.5sq Km which is currently being transformed from a large landfill and industrial area to a massive sports park including an 80,000 seater stadium, two 50 meter pools, a 6,000 seater velodrome, a new International railway station, thousands of apartments and a shopping centre.

There are 10,000 construction workers currently on site. Construction is nearing completion on most of the venues and is on target to be completed by the end of the summer. Planting is underway with around 50,000 plants and more than 1,000 mature trees already planted.

View photos of site visit and party

Included in the park are:

Olympic Stadium

The design features a stadium "bowl" with a capacity of 25,000 and an additional capacity of 55,000 that can be removed after the Games. An Olympic Stadium with such a large temporary element is a first for Games design. Capacity for the Games will be 80,000 as most facilities associated with a stadium such as bars, corporate areas and toilet facilities have been taken out in favour of seating. The current preferred bidder to take the Stadium after the Games is Westham whose intention is to manitain a 60,000 seater stadium.

Eton Manor

During the games this 10,500 seater venue will house aquatics training. After the Games it will be converted into a tennis, hockey and five a side football facility.

Handball Arena

This 7,000 seater venue will be used as a multi-sport arena for sport, culture and business after the Games.

IPC/MPC

During the Games the International Broadcast Centre/ Main Press Centre will host 20,000 of the world's media in state of the art facilities. The building is a 20 minute walk from end to end. After the Games this will be let or sold as office space

Basketball Arena

This is a temporary building with 12,000 capacity and will be dismantled after the Games and re-constructed elsewhere

Aquatics Centre

This will act as the gateway to Olympic Park. The venue will house two 50 m swimming pools and a diving pool. During the Games the capacity will be 17,500. After the Games the "wings" will be removed and the venue will be open to the public as the only 50 m pools in London.

Water Polo Arena

This is a temporary venue with a capacity of 5,000 which will be removed after the Games.

Hockey Centre

This is a temporary 16,000 seater venue which will be removed after the Games

Athletes' Village

Thousands of athletes will be housed here during the Games and the area also icludes shops, restaurants, medical and leisure facilities. After the Games the area will become part of the Stratford City regeneration project, providing thousands of new homes, with a mix of affordable tenures, shared equity and housing for sale and rent.

The Velodrome

This 6,000 seater venue will form part of a new VeloPark after the Games and will be joined by the reconfigured BMX Circuit and additional facilities for road cycling and mountain biking.

The ArcelorMittal Orbit

Designed by Ainish Kapoor and funded by steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, the richest man in Europe, this vast, snaking steel structure will dominate the Olympic park. It is Britain's biggest piece of public art, a 120 metres tall loping tower that people will be able to climb, giving spectacular views of London. The structure is being hailed as London's answer to the Eiffel tower and is part of an ambition to make the Olympics site a permanent visitor attraction.