for studio

An inspiring legacy A great Future after a great Games

OUR vision is to stage an exceptional Olympic Games and Paralympic Games with a profound and lasting legacy that inspires young people and creates a new era in community and urban development linked to sport. The new Olympic Park, the centrepiece for the Games, will generate significant sporting, social, economic, cultural and environmental benefits for the surrounding communities for decades to come. It will reclaim the Lower lea Valley and transform one of the most underdeveloped areas of London and the UK into a benchmark 21st century urban environment, one that reflects the unique, diverse and vibrant population of the city. The Olympic GAMES and Paralympic Games encompass a number of locations and sites, but this document focuses on the site of the Olympic Park in London’s East End, where the Games will transform the Lower Lea Valley into a new urban quarter that changes lives, a place of local and national pride.

We will use the new sporting venues, community facilities and services from the Games to regenerate one of the UK’s and Europe’s poorest communities.

Our vision is to maximise all the economic, social and environmental benefits from hosting the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.

Water Polo Aquatics Olympic Village

Velodrome BMX Fencing

Basketball Athletes’ Training Area Olympic Stadium

Handball

Hockey

IBC MPC

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Hockey

A sporting chance

Our job is to harness this potential and create one of the largest new urban parks in Europe for 150 years, with a lasting legacy of world-class sports facilities, homes for the community that will live in the area and unrivalled green open spaces around the Park after the Games.

With the planning applications, we are effectively ‘lockingin legacy’ at this very early stage – five and a half years before the Games begin.

One of the biggest sets of planning applications in European history – covering a land area of 246 hectares (2.5 square kilometres) – it sets out not just plans for new sporting venues, but also new highways, bridges, river works, utilities, parks, open space, and their postGames reconfiguration for legacy use. The application has been separated into two core elements to allow planning permission for site preparation works to be prioritised and approved in advance of the application for the Park as a whole. This will enable key early works to proceed as soon as possible, allowing the early momentum of work on the Olympic Park to continue.

Roy McNulty Acting Chair, Olympic Delivery Authority

The ‘Site Preparation Planning Application’ seeks permission for early works to allow the development of Olympic and Paralympic facilities. The ‘Facilities and their Legacy Planning Application’ seeks permission for the core construction work and post-Games reconfiguration of infrastructure for legacy use, including the construction of six permanent venues.

A separate application is being made on land at Clays Lane to accommodate that part of the Olympic Village which is not within the Stratford City development.

The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and the London Development Agency (LDA) will also be preparing a ‘Legacy Masterplan Framework’ which will focus on the post-Olympic delivery of residential, commercial and community use facilities. This will be a separate document, subject to a separate planning application.

We have a long way to go to 2012. By planning legacy and Games together now, we can ensure that the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games are remembered, not only as a summer of fantastic sport, but also for the regeneration of one of the most deprived areas of the UK.

Sebastian Coe Chair, the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games

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The ‘Olympic, Paralympic & Legacy Transformation Planning Applications’ for the Olympic Park represent a significant moment in delivering our vision for the Olympic Park site and creating a benchmark 21st century urban environment. The Games are the catalyst for much needed social, environmental and physical regeneration of a deprived area of east London – the Lower Lea Valley – and the sheer size and scope of the applications reflect both the scale of the challenge as well as the enormous opportunity that hosting the Games will bring to this area.

The Vision Our responsibility is to stage A great Games for the athletes of the world – A Games that inspires young people and heralds a new era for community development linked to sport, and maximises the social, economic and environmental benefits of the 2012 Games for future generations.

The Olympic Games and Paralympic Games are a worldwide celebration of sport, culture, art and design. The multi-ethnic and multi-cultural context for the long-term regeneration aspirations underpinning the London Games 2012 will place Britain centre stage in a global demonstration of cultural diversity and the strength of collaboration. The Games and their legacy should be a showcase for the best of current and emerging creative talent drawn from the UK’s diverse population.

The Olympic Delivery Authority’s (ODA) role in the physical transformation of the Lower Lea Valley will create a showcase for British architecture, urban design, construction, engineering and regeneration practice. In doing so, it is also preparing the ‘stage set’ for the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, its partner, to develop into the wider reaching showcase for sporting achievement, cultural diversity and creativity.

Regeneration Benefits • Regenerate the Lower Lea Valley, east London and the Thames Gateway, providing hundreds of jobs and business opportunities before, during and after 2012; • Introduce mixed-use development, comprising housing, employment, business, leisure and cultural and social facilities; • Bring forward regeneration that reflects the needs of local people; • Create the platform for more than 9,000 new homes in and around the Olympic Park – with schools, health and community facilities to match; • Provide state-of-the-art sport facilities for athletics, swimming, tennis, cycling, football and much more; • Improve connectivity and break down barriers to movement through the introduction of new highways, access points and bridges; • Enhance London’s infrastructure especially transport networks and access for disabled people; • Maximise the potential benefits of public transport infrastructure; • Enhance the physical environment, particularly through remediation, open space provision, waterway improvement and burying overhead powerlines; • Clean up the Lower Lea Valley and provide the biggest new London park since Victorian times; • Place the East End as one of the key destinations in the tourism economy of London; • Reduce emissions of greenhouse gases – through energy efficient design, renewable energy use, environmentally friendly transport and green spaces management.

Social and Cultural Benefits

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• Bring 11,000 athletes to our doorstep, providing inspiration for the UK’s youngest community; • Promote sport and healthy lifestyles – from walking through to elite competition; • Promote social cohesion in the most culturally diverse community in the UK; • Engage and consult local communities and stakeholders in the development of the proposals; • Lift the arts and cultural life of the area, particularly through a sustained programme of festivals and celebrations; • Radically improve east London’s image.

Our vision is to create an exceptional Olympic and Paralympic Games with a profound and lasting legacy, and in so doing reclaim the Lower Lea Valley for London; creating a benchmark 21st century urban environment reflecting the unique, diverse and vibrant population of the city. The London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games will drive one of the largest and most significant urban regeneration projects in the UK; transforming the Lower Lea Valley into a new urban quarter and a place of community and national pride.

We want to create a new benchmark for all future Games; a fantastic ‘once in a lifetime’ event, and the foundation for an inspired legacy, not only for the immediate Olympic Park area, but the entire East End of London. Built on the concept of ‘responsibility’, the 2012 Games will respect and rehabilitate the environment and will provide opportunities for people who live in, work in and visit the area. As part of the commitment to legacy, social infrastructure, education, healthy living and cultural expression are all essential components of the Olympic Park proposals.

Every aspect of the delivery process, for the Games and legacy, will be driven by our commitment to design quality and innovation to ensure that an exemplar new urban environment is created. London will set the dramatic backdrop to the Games through its architecture, its iconic landmarks and the cultural diversity of its people. The London 2012 Games will be held in an exceptional physical environment, one that provides a compact precinct but is also a celebration of the extraordinary post-industrial landscape of the Valley.

The Olympic Park has been designed to create a spectacular visitor experience for the duration of the Games and will be shaped by the confluence of the rivers and canals that drive the form and character of this special environment. The River Lea and the undulating topography provides a unique and captivating setting for the sporting and cultural programmes being planned.

The arrangement of the major stadia and smaller venues around a central unifying concourse space provides coherence to the Olympic Park that will mean visitors always feel part of the show, whether they are watching the 100 metres final or strolling along the river edge.

And, while considerations of staging a spectacular Games have informed the evolution of the design, an important force behind the development of the masterplans has been the ambition to ensure a positive legacy and the regeneration of the Lower Lea Valley.

As such, the design of the Olympic, Paralympic and Legacy Transformation Masterplans have evolved simultaneously to deliver the greatest possible synergy between them, and the least amount of change post-Games.

Design Intent Games and legacy are being planned hand in hand to ensure that we leave a post-Games park which is economically viable. We are committed to leaving no white elephants. To achieve this, the Park and facilities are designed with permanent elements for legacy, and, as far as possible, with temporary structures for the Olympic Overlay for the Games.

Concourses, venues, pathways, and bridges will be dramatically reduced in size after the Games. The large ‘back of house’ and ‘front of house’ operational areas needed to support the major venues during the Games, will be temporary and removed after the Games. They will leave new development platforms surrounding the permanent facilities that will form the basis of new residential and mixed-use neighbourhoods.

The aim is to create a Park for legacy which will reflects its heritage, but responds to the diversity of cultures and demands of the surrounding communities. Active engagement with the local residents will be an important means of ensuring that the Park is appropriately designed to foster pride and a sense of ‘ownership’ by those who are most likely to use it.

The Games as a Catalyst for Community Renewal After the London 2012 Games has come and gone, the regeneration of the Lower Lea Valley will have changed the city. It will have established a new centre in London’s polycentric urban fabric, shifting development opportunities to the east. This newly connected and rehabilitated site will help provide for London’s projected growth without increasing the city’s footprint. Focused on a vibrant active urban park and built along waterways, London’s newest centre will be a multi-functional and multi-cultural area. The goal will be to create an urban environment that embraces innovation with new ways of living, playing and working – fundamentally improving the quality of life for existing and new residents.

The Lower Lea Valley is already on the cusp of transformation. 2012 is only a moment in time, but this single event will be a catalyst for change for the Games area as well as Greater London. With the spark of regeneration afforded by focusing the Games in the area, these communities will be reinforced by new housing, new job prospects, improved transport connections, training opportunities and rising aspirations. The area can and will change as a result of bringing the world to London’s East End. The development of the Olympic Park will deliver numerous benefits: • Significant employment and business opportunities will arise as a result of the development, with jobs being created in the construction and operation of the Olympic Park and the legacy development.

These jobs are sorely needed in the five Host Boroughs where there is a notable issue of unemployment.

• Up to 4,500 new homes will be built for the Olympic Village that will be converted post-Games as a start for newly created neighbourhoods with new local schools, community and health facilities, as well as appropriate utilities, roads, and transport infrastructure.

• Significant amounts of additional housing will also be developed on and around the Games site as result of the positive impact of this investment in social and physical infrastructure as well as the wider connections to the London economy.

• The Olympic Park site itself will be converted from its current contaminated, derelict and abandoned state to high-quality, public parklands, one of the largest new urban parks constructed in Europe in the past 150 years.

• The parklands will restore and enhance the recreational and ecological role of this important river valley. It will become part of London’s famed network of green spaces – connecting the 26 kilometres of the Lea Valley Regional Park in the north to the canal networks and river corridors that connect with the Thames in the south.

• The parklands also provide the platform for a mix of world-class sports venues and training facilities with more passive leisure and educational pursuits, including cycling, walking, bird watching, fishing, wetland and outdoor classrooms.

• New roads, bridges, footpaths and cycleways will help ‘stitch’ together the east/west ‘tear’ in the urban fabric created by the disconnecting networks of railways, waterways and utility corridors.

• The construction of new power, water and gas networks will create the capacity for future large scale urban development and generate renewed investment interest and drive increased land values.

Waltham Forest Waltham Forest

Stratford City Stratford City

Hackney Hackney

VictoriaVictoria Park Park

Newham

Newham

Tower Tower Hamlets Hamlets

Lower Lea Lower Valley Lea Valley

ExCeL Centre River Thames River Thames

CanaryCanary Wharf Wharf Millennium Millennium DomeDome

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Excel Centre

Inclusive Design and the Games

Our vision is for both the Games in London to set new standards for services, facilities and opportunities for disabled people.

Setting new Standards The Paralympic Games and the Paralympic Movement have a very special place in the history and development of sport in the UK, dating back to 1948 and the origins of the Paralympic Games at Stoke Mandeville, near London. Our vision is for both the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in London to set new standards for services, facilities and opportunities for all people. Our vision for the Games encompasses a continuous 60-day celebration of youth and passion that views Olympians and Paralympians with equal respect.

Inclusivity is a key aspect of the ‘Olympic Spirit’. The Olympic Games and Paralympic Games will be designed to include all people. The development of the legacy communities will build upon the values established by the Games and will set new standards for access to homes, workplaces and the local environment. The Park will address accessibility at its most fundamental level; both in terms of the diversity of spaces to ensure use by all, and also physically, to ensure that the Park is designed to encourage access to all areas by all users. Inclusion and integration guide our vision. Our ambition is that all people will have a fantastic experience and appropriate level of service in the Park, venues and other facilities. This ambition will hold for everyone – athletes, spectators, journalists, sponsors, staff, contractors and volunteers. It will be integral to every aspect of planning and operations across all functions. The aim is to create and build venues, develop the Park and enhance transport (both for the Games and for the legacy facilities) which is of high quality and inclusive, that meets the built environment needs of everyone on equal terms regardless of age, disability, ethnicity or social grouping.

Inclusive Design Inclusive design is an integral part of the design process, and has been since the project began. Even at this early stage, all of the Olympic Park and venue concepts have been planned with the unique challenges in mind and the need to ensure an inclusive design solution. The Olympic Village, all of the sporting venues and the supporting facilities will be accessible both during and after the Games. The aim, where possible, is to provide gradients of 1:60 across the primary movement corridors and to ensure ease of access to all venues and facilities.

An inclusive environment does not attempt to meet every single need, but by considering people’s diversity, inclusive environments can break down barriers and will often achieve superior solutions that benefit everyone.

The phrase ‘inclusive design’ relates as much to the design process as to the final product and just as equally to management, operation and information, bonding user experience with professional expertise.

Inclusive design is not solely about disabled people’s access requirements but about access for all.

London 2012 will see the Paralympic athletes competing in many of the same venues as the Olympians. This will include, among others, 5-a-side and 7-a-side football in the Hockey Venue, Goalball in the Handball Arena, and Wheelchair Rugby in the Basketball Arena. In addition, there

Key Principles: • Inclusive: so everyone can use them safely, easily and with dignity; • Responsive: taking into account what people say they need and want; • Flexible: so different people can use them in different ways; • Convenient: so everyone can use them without too much effort or separation; • Accommodating: for everyone, regardless of their age, gender, mobility, ethnicity or circumstances; • Welcoming: with no disabling barriers that might exclude some people; and • Realistic: offering more than one solution to help balance everyone’s needs and recognising that one solution may not work for all.

will be a new Paralympic landmark; for the first time a permanent new venue – the Olympic Park tennis centre at Eton Manor – will be built specifically for the Paralympic Games. The Paralympic Archery Venue will be transformed into a permanent hockey facility in legacy.

The internal layout of the venues will accord with the principles of inclusive design, where disabled and non-disabled people use the same access routes and methods wherever possible. Facilities will be accessible throughout and the appropriate sightline and viewing standards for each of the sport disciplines required within each of the venues for all modes (Olympic, Paralympic and legacy) will be achieved to ensure appropriate levels of accessibility for all. These design principles also apply to the development of the residential units to house athletes in the Olympic Village during the Games.

All homes in the Olympic Village will be built to Lifetime Homes Standards post-Games, and 10% of all housing in the Clays Lane portion will be fully wheelchair accessible post-Games.

Inclusive Transport The provision of accessible transport facilities leading to and around the Park will be crucial to its success as an inclusive development.

The Olympic Transport Plan has been developed to take into account the diverse needs of visitors to the Park. All of the public transport facilities serving the Olympic Park will be accessible. The entire Docklands Light Railway network and all of London’s 21,000 licensed black cabs are already accessible to wheelchair users, as will be every London bus by 2008.

A creative approach to ticketing will be based on the successful promotion of Paralympic events at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. Multi-venue day tickets and free transport between venues will ensure every athlete enjoys passionate and vocal support.

Our benchmark for the design is to ensure that the experience of the Park for a disabled person has to be at least comparable with that of a non-disabled person when developing the approach to the provision of transport within the Park, during the Games. It is envisioned that a shuttle bus will use the Loop Road to travel around the Olympic Park.

This service will pick up and drop off disabled people and mobility impaired at the venue front of house stops. Internal buggies will carry up to six people at a time and will travel at walking speed on the concourse. Additionally, manual wheelchairs and scooters will be on loan at each of the entrance points to the Olympic Park.

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Olympic Games and Paralympic

The Olympic Park Design Concept The design of the Olympic Park is central to the Games’ success and to leaving a long-term legacy for the future, through the wider benefits of regeneration. The aim is to create a clear setting for the Games with a great variety of spaces to enrich and support the visitors’ experience of the Olympic Precinct beyond 2012.

Masterplan Structure and Elements

Concourse

Compact Precinct

To create an Olympic Park that can be fully experienced by spectators and visitors, the site will be unified by the central spine that will form the concourse.

The design concept that has guided the vision for the Olympic and Paralympic Masterplans is the delivery of a profoundly beautiful Olympic Park following the River Lea Valley. The Park represents the defining element of the London 2012 Games. With access points to the north, south, east and west, it provides a central circulation spine and parkland setting for the sporting venues.

Riverine Landscape The Olympic, Paralympic and Legacy Masterplans build on the existing characteristics of the Lower Lea Valley, especially the waterways and the interesting and varied topography. The area features a number of level changes, creating an undulating landscape of gentle hills and ridges rising above and falling back down to river and canal edges. Although some areas require re-grading, the Masterplan takes advantage of the level changes to assist crowd movement, create obvious landmarks and routes, and accentuate dramatic views into, from and through the site.

Access To ensure that the arrival and departure of spectators is dispersed across the Olympic Park, four spectator pedestrian entrance points are proposed in the Olympic Park.

The four entrance points are: • Eastern access, which is the primary access into the Olympic Park via the ‘Stratford City Bridge’ for spectators arriving from Stratford Regional Station and Stratford International Station, and brings spectators directly to the Olympic Stadium’s principal entrance, passing the Aquatics Centre; • Southern access at the Greenway Land Bridge for spectators arriving from West Ham Station and the temporary southern coach drop-off facility; • Northern access for spectators using the temporary northern coach drop-off and disabled parking facility; • Western access for spectators arriving at the Greenway.

There will be temporary cycle parking available at the southern access, in Victoria Park, and at the northern access points as well as the existing bike parking available at Stratford Regional Station.

The concourse has been designed to allow the easy movement and flow of crowds. As the main circulation spine throughout the Park, it dynamically winds through the riverine landscape of the Lea Valley to give public access to each of the venues. The concourse will carry the Olympic Park continuously over any of the roads, waterways and rail lines that cross the site using dramatic land bridges.

Venues The location of each venue is crucial. It is imperative that every effort is made to ensure that these venues perform to the levels demanded by such an important event.

The individual venues are located to ensure that each one has the necessary circulation space and room for the secure ancillary facilities that are required, and that over-crowding of the concourse areas is not an issue. The larger capacity venues, including the Olympic Stadium, Basketball and the Aquatics Centre, have been located at the southern end of the Park to be closest to transportation hubs within Stratford City. This ensures the best fit for an easy transition to legacy use.

The smaller venues in the north of the site, including the Velodrome, Fencing, BMX, Hockey and Handball Arenas have been clustered to give critical mass and help spread visitor movement and activity throughout the Park.

Front of House Each venue has a defined ‘front of house’ space positioned between the venue entrances and the main circulation areas of the Park. Each of these spaces has been sized to allow for general circulation and as a gathering area for spectators before they enter the venues. In the case of an emergency evacuation of the venue, it is envisaged that they will offer an area of relative safety, which in most cases sets the required size. Given the compact nature of this site, these areas are tightly organised in most locations but may allow for some kiosks or temporary facilities should these be deemed safe from a crowd flow or evacuation standpoint.

Northern Spectator Transport Mall Wind Turbine Northern Access Paralympic Tennis & Archery / Athletes’ Training Area Velodrome Hockey BMX Track International Broadcast Centre / Main Press Centre Fencing Hall Media Transport Mall Olympic Village Handball Arena Stratford International Station Olympic Family Transport Mall Sponsors’ Village Energy Centre Basketball Arena Western Access Stratford Regional Station Aquatics Centre Olympic Stadium

Loop Road Eastern Access

Southern Access Warm up — Athletics

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Southern Transport Mall

Back of House

Olympic Village

Each venue’s supporting facilities (back of house areas) are located to the rear of each building, with access directly from the secure Olympic Loop Road. These back of house areas are separated from the public concourse in the centre of the Olympic Park. The guiding principle in the layout has been to consolidate the back of house spaces and to minimise their visual impact by tucking them behind the venues and infrastructure, creating an animated park edge. The vast majority of the back of house structures will be temporary tents, cabins, trailers, or modular units. The venues that are close together are able to share back of house facilities ensuring greater cost and space efficiencies.

The Olympic Village is located immediately adjacent to the north-east boundary of the Olympic Park and Stratford International Station, offering a convenient and well served environment for athletes, officials and their families. Through its location next to the Olympic Park, travel distance to all of the venues within the Park will be less than 20 minutes and this will account for up to 80% of athletes.

Spectator Service Areas

International Broadcast Centre / Main Press Centre

Within the Park, there will be a number of spectator service areas.

These range from large compounds which will hold food courts, restaurants, cultural pavilions, sponsors’ showcases, WC facilities, retail shops and the like; to smaller areas which will feature kiosks, information booths, and other event spaces.

The International Broadcast Centre and Main Press Centre (IBC/MPC) site in the north-west corner of the Olympic Park will provide an efficient, secure and easily accessible home for the broadcasters and press, providing 24 hour support and facilities. The facility is designed to meet the highly technical requirements of the Games, but retain the flexibility to transform into a number of legacy uses. Its close location to the A12, the Loop Road and the multi-storey car and coach park will guarantee good circulatory linkages to individual venues and offsite events.

A number of different spectator service areas have been identified on the Masterplan to indicate their likely location. A few of these areas will be dedicated to the larger weather-protected compounds, while the others will be predominantly outdoor facilities with sun and rain shading. Where possible, the spectator support services will be provided by permanent buildings which will be retained in legacy for uses such as a café, offices, event spaces and other park services.

Loop Road

Concourse — Central Circulation Spine

Olympic Park / Lea Valley

Loop Road

Utilities

The Loop Road is located around the edge of the Park. During the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games the Loop Road will allow vehicular circulation and access to each of the main venues while acting as a secure area around the edge of the Park. It is designed as a two lane, mainly one way figure-of-eight road (anti-clockwise) which will provide connection between the back of house of each venue, the Olympic Village, the Sponsors’ Hospitality Area and the surrounding strategic road network. All vehicles using the Loop Road will be security checked before entering the network.

The scale of development proposed for the Games will require new and additional supplies of power, gas, water, drainage and waste organisation. This need provides the opportunity to install new sustainable systems, that will be far more resource and energy efficient than those currently in operation. A local multi-utility network will be developed to operate independently for the Games, and will be integrated into wider Lower Lea Valley systems as these are developed in the future. Generally, infrastructure solutions will be developed for the legacy requirements with the addition of Games’ requirements achieved through temporary generators and support equipment.

The goal is to deliver new renewable energy infrastructure that provides up to 20% of the Olympic Park and Olympic Village energy demand post-Games in 2013. This will be achieved by construction of a wind turbine on Eton Manor in the north of the site and a new Energy Centre on the Kings Yard site at the western edge of the Olympic Park, which will include a combined cooling heat and power plant and bio-mass boiler. Additionally, the Masterplan provides the flexibility to incorporate emerging technologies to enhance the environmental performance of future developments on the site. The intention is to achieve a carbon neutral park during our legacy transformation.

Design Principles The following principles underpin the layout of the Olympic and Paralympic Masterplans: • A focus on the legacy from the very outset of the masterplanning exercise and the role of this legacy in the wider regeneration process; • Minimising the land requirement for the Games through efficiency of layout and by co-locating venues which are able to share ‘back of house’ facilities; • Creation of a compact Olympic Park that contains as many venues as possible to create a critical mass of activity and sense of ‘atmosphere’ within the context of public transport capacity and the circulation space required for the safe operation of the Games; • Creation of entrance points into the Olympic Park in locations which allow balanced management of crowds, with access in the north, south, east and west; • Definition of a central concourse to allow ease of movement around the site, aid crowd management, provide a core to the Olympic Park from which venues can be accessed easily, provide an arena for hosting the many visitor facilities and spectator accreditation check areas, and provide a major park space for the Lower Lea Valley following the Games; • Creation of the Olympic Park within a clearly defined security cordon which meets security requirements, with key ancillary facilities such as parking areas immediately adjacent to, but outside, the secure Olympic Park; • Creation of a perimeter Loop Road, to act as a secure area around the edge of the park and provide easy access for servicing and transporting accredited user groups. This will also provide significant roadway infrastructure to access development areas in legacy.

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The Loop Road is approximately 6 kilometres in length and provides full disabled access to all venues. At each venue the Loop Road will expand to five lanes (including a drop-off lane) to enable athletes, officials, media, sponsors, workforce and Olympic Family members to be ‘dropped off’ at the venue. In legacy, the intention is to retain up to 90% of the Loop Road and incorporate it into the design of the local ‘character areas’.

There is a two-way Link Road situated in the middle of the Park, on the existing Carpenters Road alignment. This link will negate the need to complete a full loop of the Olympic Park. There will be three entrance points onto the Loop Road; in the north (off the A12/Ruckholt Road), south (off the A11/Marshgate Lane) and west (off the A12/Wick Lane).

Olympic Venues Nine new venues will be situated within easy walking distance of each other, allowing competitors and spectators alike to experience the unique atmosphere of the Olympic games and Paralympic games.

Besides venues outside the Olympic Park taking advantage of existing sports infrastructure and iconic London locations, a number of high profile new sports venues are located in the Olympic Park.

Each and every venue has a special role to play in the structure of the Olympic Park and the staging of the Games.

Permanent Venues: • • • • •

Olympic Stadium Aquatics Centre (except for Water Polo) Handball Arena Eton Manor (Indoor Tennis and Hockey Centre) Velopark (Velodrome and BMX)

The sporting venues, sitting within the urban park, will be both the ‘face’ of the Games as well as the visual memory engrained in millions of visitors and television viewers.

Temporary Venues:

The primary goal for the design of the venues will be to deliver a profound visual statement that reflects the importance of the Games, while responding to the balanced urban, architectural and landscape framework that defines the Olympic Park. Regardless of their temporary or permanent status, design quality will be sought in the design of every venue.

Design Principles:

Each venue is uniquely set within the overall park composition to provide an independent identity while also reflecting the coherent design intent of the wider Masterplan. The venues will embrace a combined design approach incorporating the building design with the landscape and front of house areas to ensure integration within the Park.

The venues that will remain post-Games will be tested according to legacy business cases, to ensure each has a sustainable future. A careful balance will be sought between minimising the amount of temporary venues within the Park, and minimising the economic risk of legacy venues without a firm and sustainability legacy business case.

• Basketball Arena • Hockey Venue • Fencing Venue

• Ensure the design and construction of venues integrate their future use and size into their Games form; clearly recognising the transition from Games to legacy. Venue designers and contractors will demonstrate feasibility, innovation and coordination; • Create a consistent language of architecture and architectural intent ensuring integration with the surrounding park; • Ensure the design of the venues reflects the high cultural and sporting importance of the London 2012 Games in terms of innovation, durability, lifecycle costing, maintenance, sustainability, environmental awareness, and suitability of application; • Provide world-class sporting facilities and venues in accordance with IOC, international sport federations and UK legislation; • Ensure all venue accommodation requirements are met; • Ensure 2012 Games Overlay requirements are met;

Post-Games the venues must seamlessly connect with their surroundings, reinforcing links to existing communities and creating a fully integrated landscape where buildings and nature flow into each other. The architecture of the buildings will need to carefully integrate with the more intimate scale of their parklands and urban neighbourhood settings of their future surroundings. The venue designs must support these objectives.

In legacy, a share of park visitors, particularly from the neighbouring areas, will arrive at the venues by sustainable means of transport – in ways that benefit their health and the environment. For this reason, all the legacy venues will be linked to Sustrans Route 1 (National Cycle Network); which is part of the Lea Valley Pathway, linking the Thames Pathway and the heart of London. Through new cycle and pedestrian

connections, the desire is that the legacy Park and venues will encourage and promote cycling and walking. Each of the venue designs will need to incorporate, support and strengthen the following concepts: • The synthesis of formal and organisational principles that will provide an all-encompassing image which will represent, through architecture, the London 2012 Games; • For the permanent venues; the delivery of a structure and identity that will become a lasting legacy for the Lea Valley; symbolic of the commitment to providing community athletic facilities; • For the temporary venues, the design will embrace innovative use of materials and form to create a ‘stage-set’ that reflects the significance of the Games; • The designs should reflect the integration of buildings within the unique landscape of rivers, canals and industrial heritage; • The venues should incorporate geometries that will be able to merge the character of the site and the nature of the event as well as embody a strong statement for the legacy of the Lea Valley; • In addition to reflecting the forms, geometries and composition of the Park, the buildings should work with a material palette that has a common and consistent design intent. This aspect will be further developed in emerging design codes; • The architecture of the venues must suitably address both Games and legacy. Design must be flexible enough to efficiently accommodate the business plan requirements – such as venues occasionally expanding seating capacity to stage future major sporting events.

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• Provide safe crowd flow and spectator circulation routes; • Ensure all venue and spectator circulation areas meet accessibility design standards, and incident evacuation requirements; • Provide efficient and dedicated circulation routes with appropriate facilities for all accredited user groups; • Ensure spatial affinity between each operational compound layout; • Provide adequate logistics and service access to each of the venues via the Loop Road; • Provide spectator holding areas in relation to the competition schedule as required; • Provide locations for the all spectator service areas; • Ensure the design of all venues meets current client security protocol.

Olympic Stadium

London 2012 Games

Legacy

With a seating capacity of up to 80,000 seats, the Olympic Stadium will truly be the showpiece venue of the Games. Innovative design and construction techniques will be used to transform the stadium into a signature legacy venue of up to 25,000 seats.

Following the Games, the Olympic Stadium will be reduced in capacity to its permanent legacy form. The ambition is to create a facility that with its surrounding buildings becomes an active part of the neighbourhood and community, and, through its use, brings life and vibrancy to the local area. It will be primarily designed for use as an athletics venue, but should be flexible in its ability to stage concerts, and cultural, community and other sporting events to ensure operational success and long-term economic viability.

During the London 2012 Games the Olympic Stadium will host the opening and closing ceremonies, track and field events and the marathon race finish. For two weeks it will be one of the most recognised icons in world sport, seen by over a billion people watching the Games around the world.

The stadium will be designed and built with its legacy use and size integrated into its Games form. It will incorporate sustainable and intelligent building systems. The building will use cutting-edge technologies in temporary construction through the building’s transformational qualities and flexible architectural form.

The stadium will remain as one of the more prominent Games venues within the Park. Located on an impressive island site in the south of the Park, surrounded by waterways and infrastructure, the stadium will be connected to the Olympic Park by a series of bridges.

The 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium will host the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, as well as the Athletics events, marathon finish and race walk start and finish. The iconic venue will be seen by over a billion people watching the Games around the world.

Please note that the following drawings of the individual venues are illustrations only and are not the agreed designs. The Aquatics Centre is the only venue where the concept design has been agreed.

aQUATICS cENTRE

London 2012 Games

Legacy

The Aquatics Centre will provide one of the most significant architectural elements in the Olympic Park — creating a front door to the open space, sporting venues and ecological zones of the Olympic Park. This impressive venue will be the first building spectators will see as they arrive for the Games from Stratford City.

Following the Games, the Aquatics Centre will be reduced in capacity to its permanent legacy form. The temporary seating and temporary Water Polo venue will be removed from the site, leaving the venue with permanent seating accommodation for up to 3,500 spectators.

The design for the Aquatics Centre has a spectacular, sinuous S-shaped roof, inspired by the flow of water, which is certain to make it a London landmark. The venue design includes two 50-metre pools, one for the main competition events and one for warm up, and a competition diving pool. It will have a temporary capacity of up to 20,000 seats for diving and swimming competitions and an additional 5,000 seats for Water Polo as well as all the ‘back of house’ facilities required for the Games.

During the Games the Aquatics Centre will host the Swimming, Diving, Synchronised Swimming and Water Polo and the swimming component of Modern Pentathlon competitions, as well as medal presentation ceremonies.

The Aquatics Centre will be designed from its inception for legacy use as the London Aquatics Centre for elite training and development, with flexibility to inclusively support both local and wider community groups. It will be a multifaceted venue, capable of hosting national and international aquatic events, as well as providing elite training facilities for the sporting disciplines of swimming, diving, synchronised swimming and water polo.

A range of leisure activities and facilities will be offered to the public including two 50-metre pools, a diving pool and health and fitness centre to accommodate a diverse range of users. The additional legacy facilities and activity programme will contribute to the long-term viability of the

The state-of-the-art AquaticS Centre includes two 50-metre pools and a world-class diving pool. The building will provide a stunning gateway into the

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Olympic Park – effectively the front door to the park.

‘This building has an exceptional sculptural quality that will make it a wonderful building to visit, attracting people to East London. It sets the standard for architectural quality in this key regeneration area.’ Lord Rogers

Euan Glendale is a swimmer who trained at the Aquatics Centre and is now participating in the Games.

Euan Glendale stared up at the roof of the training pool. ‘I cannot believe I am here’, he says to himself. His endless training in Scotland seemed a long way away, since qualifying this summer for the National Swimming Team.

Today he was taking his first laps in the Olympic training pool; early this morning he had walked from the Olympic Village to the Aquatics Centre. The walk through the park by the river was beautiful; there was mist on the river, sun shining through the trees, birds singing; the start of another hot summer’s day. Soon the Park will start to fill with spectators in anticipation of another day of Olympic competition. But for now, it was a private space for the athletes streaming out of the Village to enjoy the tranquility of the park.

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As he looked up at the extraordinary pool roof, he thought about the thousands of people who were at this moment walking above and how they probably didn’t realise that the main entrance to the Olympic Park was actually the roof of the training pool. The views from the bridge are really amazing; across the Olympic Park to the Olympic Flame and the City beyond. The coach’s voice broke into his thoughts, ‘OK, back to the training, Euan. No more daydreaming – give me 1000 metres, easy warm up…’

handball VENUE

London 2012 Games

Legacy

The Handball Arena is located immediately south of the IBC/MPC and east of the Hackney Cut. During the Olympic mode it will host the full Handball competition and the Goalball competition during the Paralympic Games.

In legacy, the arena becomes an important multi-purpose sports facility, with the ability to host both large scale, World championship events for handball, basketball, volleyball and national, regional and community events for a multitude of other key sports from the Games programme.

Together with the two Hockey Venues, the Handball Arena provides a major ‘spectator draw’ towards the north-west quadrant of the Olympic Park, helping distribute visitors throughout the Park.

The arena will maintain its ability to host a full capacity of up to 10,000 spectators in legacy with built-in seating flexibility to enable a variety of adaptable internal spaces and seating configurations to be able to hold multiple events and/or training concurrently.

The arena is located directly on top of the two CTRL tunnels that leave Stratford International Station to the west. The rationale behind the north-south orientation of the handball arena is to enable the roof structure of the arena to span either side of the CTRL tunnel’s limits of deviation, providing the most cost effective structural solution for this large span arena.

The permanent Handball Venue will accommodate up to 10,000 spectators in an indoor arena at the very centre of the Olympic Park. The arena will have a powerful legacy as a multipurpose sport facility.

velopark

London 2012 Games

Legacy

The London 2012 Games will host four disciplines of Olympic and Paralympic cycling races; Track, Road, Mountain Bike and BMX events.

The track cycling and BMX events will take place within the VeloPark; a multi-discipline cycling centre in the north east of the Olympic Park.

In legacy, the four integrated specialist cycling facilities -Track, Road, Mountain Bike and BMX cycling sports - will be clustered together to form the new VeloPark. This unique regional and community cycling centre will provide amenities for a variety of disciplines and abilities.

The central element of the VeloPark will be the Velodrome where, during the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games the 6,000-seat Velodrome will host the indoor track cycling events and the track medal presentation ceremonies. The Velodrome will be a significant architectural venue within the Olympic Park; embodying both the Games as well as the legacy aspirations for the Lower Lea Valley. The venue architects will be selected by design competition.

The VeloPark’s legacy form will be a permanent expression of cycling excellence in the UK and this will be reflected in the architecture, inclusiveness, security, operability and financial viability.

Adjacent to the River Lea and south of the Velodrome, a purpose built but temporary BMX Circuit will be built for the Games. The Olympic BMX venue will accommodate up to 6,000 spectators during the three-day programme of the Olympic Games. Following the Games, the BMX Circuit will be relocated to its permanent location to the west of the Velodrome.

While the central Velodrome venue will remain, the legacy addition of a complementary outdoor road cycle circuit, BMX and mountain bike course will ensure that each of the differing facilities within the VeloPark will be capable of accommodating a broad range of disciplines, ages and abilities in cycling from novice to elite-training.

Ensuring operational success and long-term economic viability is imperative, and as such, the legacy Velodrome will share amenities and operating facilities with the legacy BMX circuit, road cycling circuit and mountain bike course. The design will incorporate the flexibility to efficiently accommodate the Business Plan requirements so that the Lower Lea Valley will incorporate one of the most comprehensive cycling facilities in Europe.

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The Velopark, including the Velodrome and BMX track, will be purposefully designed as a regional, national and international British Cycling venue, where the majority of session times will be used by the public through school, club and open sessions.

British Cycling’s Elite and the Talented National and Regional squads will also have training, coaching and competition access.

ETON MANOR

London 2012 Games

Legacy

The Eton Manor site is located at the most northerly point of the Olympic Park. It will incorporate a number of venues for both the Games and legacy. For the Olympic Games the Eton Manor site will provide regional training facilities for athletes, including swimming and gymnastics (rhythmic, artistic, trampoline). These facilities will be provided through both temporary and permanent structures.

Eton Manor will be one of the sporting areas retained post 2012, a significant component of the Olympic legacy. The site is proposed as a future regional sports precinct with Hockey and Tennis Centre legacy venues, a community allotments area and green space link between Hackney Wick and the Olympic Park. The site will be located with the adjoining VeloPark and renovated Hackney Marshes venues and facilities.

During the Paralympic Games the site will host the Paralympic Archery and Paralympic Tennis competition events. While the Paralympic Archery events will take place using the legacy hockey facilities (built prior to the Games), Paralympic tennis venues will accommodate an overall spectator capacity of up to 10,500 seats; nine competition venue courts and four warm up courts.

The future success of the Eton Manor site will be its ability to operate within the context of a sports neighbourhood within the Olympic Park.

Eton Manor will be a major competition venue for hockey and tennis with an active community programme. The commitment is to provide ‘a world class’ hockey facility which meets the needs of top-level hockey players as well as the wider needs of London’s community in a facility capable of hosting the hockey World Cup event. The elite facilities will largely be provided by the relocation of the original Olympic Hockey Stand and pitches from the Games. This means a legacy of up to 5,000 permanent seats, with the ability to increase the capacity of the venue up to 10,000 seats in a temporary fashion, will be achievable. A secondary pitch that can potentially accommodate other sports will also be provided.

The site also accommodates a wind turbine as part of the onsite renewable energy network for the Park. The large-scale turbine will provide a portion of the Olympic Park site’s energy requirements with carbon-free electricity, in support of the Games’ 20% renewable energy target. The structure is planned to be 120 metres high (from base to blade tip) and creates a landmark for the area. The turbine remains in legacy providing energy for the local community post 2012.

The legacy Tennis Centre will be an important new regional facility with six indoor tennis courts and six outdoor courts. Clubhouse, changing and operational spaces will be provided as an integrated structure and shared between the Hockey and Tennis Centres.

Using both temporary and permanent structures, the Eton Manor site will support high level Olympic training facilities, Paralympic competition events and a legacy of hockey and tennis facilities.

Temporary Venues

Temporary Venues: Basketball, Hockey & Fencing

and up to 4,700 seats for the Modern Pentathlon event in Olympic mode, and a capacity of up to 12,000 seats in Paralympic mode.

In keeping with our commitment to hosting a Games without leaving white elephants, a number of temporary venues will be constructed for use solely during the London 2012 Games and then removed in legacy, allowing greater open space and other development opportunities to be brought forward.

It will also play a key role during the opening ceremonies as a holding space for the athletes that will have travelled from the Olympic Village prior to their procession into the Olympic Stadium. The venue will be removed and relocated in legacy leaving the land free for future development.

Hockey

Basketball The Basketball Arena is located to the north of the proposed Olympic Stadium east of the Hackney Cut and a large Victorian 42� water main that runs in a north-south direction across the site. It forms the third sports facility in the southern cluster of venues in the Olympic Park.

This indoor venue will host the Basketball preliminaries competition, the Modern Pentathlon, shooting and fencing disciplines and the Paralympic Wheelchair Rugby and Wheelchair Basketball events. It will have a temporary seating capacity of up to 12,000 seats for basketball

The temporary Hockey venues are to be located in the north-east of the Olympic Park, immediately adjacent to the IBC/MPC and to the south of the A12. The two open-air venues will host the full Olympic Hockey competition and 7 and 5-a-side Football competitions during the Paralympic Games.

The main Hockey venue will have a capacity of up to 15,000 temporary seats, while the secondary venue will have a capacity of up to 5,000 seats. The secondary venue will also serve as the warm up pitch during the competition period. The legacy Hockey facility will be constructed pre-Games on Eton Manor with the pitch surfaces being relocated from the Olympic site to Eton Manor and re-used after the Games.

Fencing The Fencing venue is located immediately south of the Velodrome and Olympic BMX venues and to the west of the Olympic Village.

The temporary arena will have a capacity of up to 8,000 seats for the Fencing preliminary and final competitions, and will be used for the Paralympic events of Wheelchair Fencing and Judo, with minimal alterations to the field of play area.

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The London 2012 Games will include more temporary venues, infrastructure and operational buildings than any other Games.

This sustainable approach will be supported by recent advances in temporary technology and design. Embodied in this approach will be advances in reusable and transportable materials and modular construction techniques which will meet the highest aesthetic, sustainability and accessibility standards. The temporary arenas will be designed in such a way that all the seats, courts and support facilities can be removed, and the structures re-used.

International Broadcast Centre / Main Press Centre

Michelle Langdon is a reporter who has covered the Games around the world and works in the IBC/MPC during the Games: Michelle Langdon ran, badge and backpack flapping, from her desk at the Main Press Centre to the bus area to catch the bus to the Archery Venue at Lord’s Cricket Ground. It was hot but not nearly as hot as it had been in Atlanta in ’96. For more than 16 years she had been covering the summer and winter Games. Concentrating the Olympic venues in a large park was a great idea.

Thinking back on the past transportation nightmares (although Sydney and Athens were not bad), Michelle reflected that she barely had to take a bus anywhere: ‘I can cover more events and actually get a chance to watch the sports.’ Today was the first time in a week that she had wanted to leave the Park.

‘Since most of my events are in the Park, covering the Games is more relaxed. The Olympic Park is where the personal side of the event – families and friends enjoying the sports – is apparent. It’s so much easier to convey the thrill and exhilaration of the competition and the show when you are based in the middle of the action.

‘The IT infrastructure means I can virtually file a story from anywhere, reporting is immediate and conveys the spontaneity of the event. London has been a landmark experience for journalists reporting on the Games.’

The compact site will include a state of the art Media Centre providing facilities for broadcast and print journalists from all over the world. The IBC/MPC will be modified and used after the Games to provide high quality mixed-use employment space supporting the London Borough of Hackney’s development plans.

London 2012 Games As one of the most spectacular sporting events in the world, the Games generate substantial news coverage. They attract a vast entourage of journalists, with up to 20,000 expected to make use of the facilities provided on any one day, equal to the total number of athletes attending the Games. The International Broadcast Centre and Main Press Centre (IBC/MPC) is sited for easy access to the A12 to allow the media to arrive from their accommodation and leave for venues outside the Olympic Park. Its position on the Loop Road allows easy access to venues within the Olympic Park.

The size and varying uses of the IBC/MPC has been determined by studies of previous Olympic Games and Paralympic Games’ Media Centres and their requirements as well as discussions with the International Olympic Committee and a selection of key international media organisations. The floor space specified within the schedule for the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) is required to accommodate television studios, production facilities, and communications suites for broadcast media and technical staff.

The Main Press Centre (MPC) comprises office accommodation and communication facilities for news agencies, photographers, and technical staff. The buildings and site area retain a substantial amount of space within the Olympic Park to accommodate the large media population. In addition to the required operational areas of the IBC/MPC, there are a number of functional support areas that provide food and beverage services, medical, dry cleaning, and banking facilities as well as casual meeting areas.

During the Games the IBC/MPC will be served by a multi-storey car park located to the north. The multi-storey car park will be required to accommodate up to 1,300 cars and a bus mall for 30 coaches and will therefore host facilities for accreditation checking. It will also function as a physical security barrier between the A12 road and the IBC/MPC.

Legacy

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In legacy the main buildings of the IBC/MPC will be re-used with some sections of the buildings removed to create a series of urban streets and blocks. The buildings will be converted for industry and office uses in line with local planning policy for the area and its designation as a strategic employment location. The multi-storey car park will also be retained to serve the new employment accommodation.

Stratford City and Olympic Village The park will also include the Olympic Village with housing for athletes and officials around communal squares with shops, restaurants and medical facilities. After the Games, the village alone will provide approximately 4,500 homes, with a mix of affordable tenures, shared equity and housing for sale.

London 2012 Games The Village plays a significant role in the athletes’ experience at the Games. For the period of the London 2012 Games, the Olympic Village will become a ‘Community of Olympism’, accommodating the greatest athletes from around the world. The Village will therefore be designed to enhance the athletes’ experience, both in terms of their ability to compete at the highest sporting level, and to engage with other athletes in intercultural events.

The Village itself will be totally secured and self-contained, offering high quality accommodation and supporting facilities for over 17,000 athletes and officials. An amphitheatre for the welcoming ceremonies of the incoming teams will be situated at the eastern edge of the Olympic Park. It will be provided with a pedestrian link from the Village and with vehicle access from the Loop Road.

The ‘Water Promenade’ will provide a waterside backdrop for a programme of outdoor cultural events and performances, encouraging socialising between athletes of different countries. The design for the temporary Olympic overlay will be based on delivering an efficient layout for the operational aspects of the Olympic Village requirements. The intention is to maximise the design with the legacy position for roads, utility infrastructure and site configuration. The majority of the back of house operations will be accommodated in temporary structures in order to return cleared sites for development immediately after the Games.

Athletes will reach the sport events and training venues by coach.

A transport mall situated in the east of the Village will service the Olympic Park and external venues. An internal village shuttle bus will be provided to connect athletes’ accommodations with the catering, health, leisure and other support facilities within the Village.

Legacy As part of the legacy of the Games, the Village will form part of a wider regeneration programme to transform Stratford City into a high quality international centre for commerce, with new retail and leisure facilities and new residential developments. By 2012 a new district of the city will emerge around Stratford International Station and after the Games the Village will become an integrated part of Stratford City. The design of the Village responds to the need for an easy

transformation process to Paralympic mode and reflects the most appropriate design for legacy housing. All apartment blocks will be fully accessible and equipped with modern lifts and stair access.

The housing in the Village is designed around courtyard blocks which will give a sense of identity within a community – privacy in courtyards and a sense of space looking out on to busy street life and the venues of the Olympic Park and London’s skyline. Each block will have its own courtyard and amenity spaces allowing for individual athlete and team training, briefing and relaxation during the Games, and day-to-day family life in legacy post 2012.

Major components of the Olympic Village include: • Accommodation for over 17,000 athletes and Olympic officials; • International Zone located immediately to the north of Stratford International Station, where athletes can meet their family and members of the press; • Main arrival space where athletes can gather and be officially addressed; • Athletes’ services (e.g. gymnasium and polyclinic); • Athletes’ accreditation centre; • A large transport mall connected to the Loop Road and external transport network; • Teams’ and officials’ parking; • Communal dining hall with the capacity to feed up to 5,000 athletes in one sitting; • Operational back of house areas; • Support facilities (e.g. retail, leisure).

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Common Domain – the Circulation Spine

Safe Passage into and through the Olympic Park A primary function of the concourse is to provide for safe passage for spectators into and through the Olympic Park. During the Games the Olympic Park is essentially a secured area, where the visiting public will arrive through security-controlled entry points to the north, east, west and south. Once inside the Park, extensive circulation space is required to allow the large visitor numbers to move between venues and through the Park. As there may be up to 200,000 people at any one time moving through the Park, the width of the concourse is determined by acceptable densities and comfort levels of the crowd.

The space is also designed to accommodate people with limited accessibility by providing level access to venues and where possible 1:60 gradients or less. The widths for the concourse, bridges and paths have been studied using computer crowd modelling techniques which also take into consideration the schedule of events within the Park and emergency evacuation.

The overall design of concourse will integrate with the landscape and landforms of the Park, and ‘carry’ the crowd flow across rivers and other obstacles.

To create an Olympic Park that can be experienced as a unified whole, there will be a central spine that will form the constant datum of the Olympic concourse. It flows and meanders through the riverine landscape, carrying huge crowds of spectators across rivers and

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obstacles to give access to all the Olympic facilities.

A Riverine Landscape The Olympic Park is defined by its Valley setting. The 5.5 kilometres of rivers and canals running through it have a profound influence on its design, creating a unique backdrop and the building blocks for an exceptional setting for the Games.

The proposed remodelling of the topography will direct visitors through an undulating mix of high points with dramatic long distance views into central London and intimate river edge, valley floor walks.

The ODA is working with British Waterways to reinstate an historic water control structure to the south of the site (in the Prescott Channel) to create a more constant water level and improved water quality throughout the Park. It will also facilitate the delivery of construction materials to the Games site and encourage future river leisure use.

A new central wetland feature will also be created at the heart of the site. This will be a designed as a spectacular outdoor room and amphitheatre, which in legacy will develop into a thriving wetlands habitat and a key feature within the River Lea. This new habitat will act as a large retention plain to reduce the flood risk within the Olympic Park and beyond.

The plant species palette for the Park is planned to be largely native to England, appropriate to London and preferably of regional or local origin. Seed collections have already been carried out on site to this end. Habitats may include existing native mature woodland, scrub, woodland edge habitats (including tall herbs), wetlands (including reed bed and wet woodlands) and various species-rich grasslands.

One form of grassland proposed is stony meadows: low nutrient and species-rich grassland established on re-used demolition waste.

Amenity grassland is planned to be in the form of species-rich lawns, so that even the most robust and well-used areas will contribute to the overall ecological value of the Park.

More opportunities within buildings will be evaluated to provide cost-effective habitats for native species. This could include elements such as swift bricks and other nesting cavities and will maximise the potential for ecological benefits.

The concourse and bridge design – creating continuity and exciting environments Due to the large number of ‘obstacles’ in the site, from waterways to rail tracks and highways, over 30 bridges are required to carry the concourse across them. The bridges are intended to help create continuity in the concourse and create a coherent Olympic Park with a unique sense of place. The sensitive integration of these structures with topography, concourse, river and habitat are vital in creating crossing points, which delight the visitor while providing a robust platform for ecological habitats.

The waterways passing beneath these bridges form important habitats and ecosystems which are sensitive to overshadowing and restriction. Large bridge widths could potentially ‘sterilise’ large strips of this green corridor and break its ecological continuity by starving the waterways of daylight. For this reason the large bridges necessary for the Games will be removed in legacy and care will be taken to ensure that bridges cause minimal impact. Where possible, abutments and riverbanks will be designed as ‘living structures’ integrated into the landform.

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Each bridge creates an exciting place in its own right, offering seating, activity and the opportunity to enjoy views of the waterways and landscape beyond.

An embedded legacy structure As far as possible the Olympic Park will be designed with the legacy Park in mind. Path systems, planting, drainage, and the infrastructure of the future park will be embedded into the structure of the Olympic Park and concourse. This approach ensures that the time, cost and energy required to transform the Park post-Games is reduced, and the benefits of the legacy condition are realised early.

Once the Games are complete the concourse will transform dramatically. The legacy path structure will be revealed, and the large areas of temporary paving between, will be removed, and recycled.

These are then absorbed by the legacy Park, becoming areas of specific activity or simply regions of planting and soft landscape.

Performance and Exhibition Spaces The concourse will also be designed to accommodate stages for performances as part of the cultural programme, spectator seating and service areas including facilities such as food halls, cafes, bars and toilets.

In the same way that the South Bank was left as a legacy of the 1951 Festival of Britain, it is envisaged that the Olympic Park will

be designed to become a permanent outdoor ‘exhibition and event space’ for changing programmes and sport activities, remaining contemporary in design and an attraction for visitors and local people in the long term. A ‘palette’ of informal performance and exhibition spaces will be created out of the landscape of the Park. Natural amphitheatres will be formed from river terraces, canvasses out of retaining wall structures and all structures designed to accommodate regular changes in overlay and dressing for events.

Street Furniture Where possible, it is intended that all permanent street furniture built for the Games, such as seating, lighting, handrails, and signage will be placed in its final legacy position. If this is not possible it will also be designed to be easily relocated within the Park or elsewhere within the legacy development. The street furniture will form part of a suite that is robust and compliments the braided geometry of the Park and concourse design rationale.

Lighting During the Games, there is the potential for dramatic lighting to reinforce the concept of creating a night-time ‘stage set’. In legacy, the principle aim of the lighting for the site is to create an organised

structure for the night-time environment, which will form a cohesive series of spaces across a visually varied landscape. It will also assist way-finding, and provide a sense of security and safety. The absence or reduction of lighting, in certain areas, is also important to minimise the impact on ecological habitats and conserve views of the night’s sky.

Art The ambition for the Olympic Park is to integrate public art into the landscape and buildings in order to showcase creative talent and celebrate the Olympic movement. Rather than conforming to the traditional view of public art being an object in the landscape, it will be embedded in many aspects of the design as part of an integrated arts programme whose main aim is to communicate the identity and vision of the Park.

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Artistic proposals, as part of the detailed design and landscaping of the Olympic Park will be guided by a series of principles such as improving design quality of the built and external environment; ensuring relevance to the generations of people that will witness their impact now and in the years that follow; celebrating local identity; assisting memorability and stimulating public thought and response; opening competitions for specific elements of projects through framework briefs.

Utilities Infrastructure The Games Utility Strategy is a positive story of renewable, local power generation and energy efficient design. The intenTion is to create a renewed public pride in sustainable civic services.

London 2012 games Utility Strategy

Key Infrastructure and Utilities

To make a strong link to the relevance of sustainable energy to everyday life, the intention is to design all new utility buildings and structures (such as transformers, headhouses and pump station) as important elements of the Park.

The London 2012 Games and the longer term regeneration proposals to be taken forward will place a significantly increased demand on utility infrastructure within the Lower Lea Valley. To meet these energy and utility requirements for the long term a number of new infrastructure and utility networks will be built for the Games with the appropriate capacity for future developments, including: • • • • • • •

Primary utilities corridor; Energy Centre, to include a CCHP Plant; Primary electricity substation; Wind turbine; Terminal Pumping Station (TPS); CTRL Cooling Box; and Temporary and permanent telecommunications masts and antennae to be mounted on the venues.

The new energy infrastructure will provide 20% of the Olympic Park and village energy demand in the immediate post-Games period in 2013 from renewable sources. In addition, the project will be futureproofed to go much further in the future when new technology allows.

Primary Utility Corridor A utilities corridor will be constructed to contain all primary utilities (gas, electricity, water, foul drainage, and telecommunications), service diversions for all existing utilities within the Games site and connections to all host utilities outside the Park boundary. The routes of the corridors will generally follow primary infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and existing utility routes and to deliver primary services to the areas of high demand using the shortest practical routes.

Energy Centre and Combined Cooling Heat and Power Within the Park heating and cooling will be provided by the proposed Combined Cooling Heat and Power Plant within the Energy Centre at Kings Yard. The plant will provide low carbon electricity, heating and cooling. Heating is provided to the permanent retained legacy venues south of the A12 and the retained IBC/MPC with provision for expansion into the long-term development proposals. The parameters set out for the Energy Centre provide sufficient space to enable future expansion of the plant should the need occur.

Primary Electricity Substation A new primary electricity substation will provide grid supply to supplement the CCHP and will be centrally located, to the east of Kings Yard, to minimise electrical losses.

Wind Turbine A 120-metre wind turbine is proposed for Eton Manor to the north of the Park site. The proposed turbine is anticipated to provide the energy equivalent to supply 1,200 homes over an average year.

Procurement for construction is due to start in spring of 2008, so the turbine is fully operational by 2010. The turbine will continue to provide power for an expected 20 years. A substation enclosure will house the electrical equipment required to connect the turbine into the site-wide electricity network, providing significant carbon mitigation.

Integrated Renewables Integrating renewables into the permanent venues in the Olympic Park is also under consideration. These could include ground source heat pumps and photovoltaic cells and other proven integrated renewal technologies available at the time.

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The London 2012 Games Utility Strategy is a positive story of renewable, local power generation and energy efficient design. It will be symbolised by major on-site power generators including wind turbines and Combined Cooling and Heating Plants (CCHP), demonstration and micro generators and innovations in water recycling. By investing in good design and promoting utility provision as an essential part of the urban fabric, the intention is to create a renewed public pride in sustainable civic services.

THE 2012 GAMES LEGACY The inherited infrastructure of the London 2012 Games will leave a sporting legacy, a lasting memory for London and will provide an excellent platform and starting position for the future development of the new neighbourhood. The Vision for the games Legacy is therefore to create a vibrant new part of London that exhibits the best of urban design, civic spaces and architecture, predicated on a deeply embedded sustainability strategy that delivers a high quality of life to its residents.

The Olympic Heritage

Legacy Transformation

With a goal to ensure that the work undertaken to deliver the Games forms the foundation of an inspired legacy, the Masterplan is being developed to minimise the subsequent transformation. The inherited infrastructure of the Games will leave a sporting legacy and a lasting memory of London 2012 while also providing an excellent platform for the future development of the new neighbourhoods.

Following the Games the area will undergo a significant transformation to form the platform for subsequent legacy development proposals. Venues that would not operate with a viable legacy will be removed and temporary structures will be decommissioned. Permanent venues, the parklands and large pieces of infrastructure such as bridges will remain to form the catalyst for new development.

Legacy Strategy The Olympic Park design embodies a clear strategy for the long-term future that will trigger major regeneration in the Lower Lea Valley within the wider context of the Thames Gateway. It anticipates the area being transformed from Olympic Park into a new urban quarter, which will contribute to the urban character, economic potential and sporting significance of the entire Valley. The ambition is to go forward with a truly outstanding development that will enhance east London and demonstrate excellence in 21st century city development. A vibrant new part of London will be created that offers the best of urban design, civic spaces and architecture, predicated on a deeply embedded sustainability strategy that delivers a high quality of life to its residents.

Venues like the Aquatics Centre, Olympic Stadium and VeloPark will be modified to suit future elite training as well as community use, forming the focal points of new mixed-use neighbourhoods which will be developed around them. The Olympic Loop Road will be integrated into the local route network while continuing to link the individual venues and the new emerging districts together. The IBC/MPC will provide new high quality workspace and the adjunct multi-storey car park will give sufficient parking for future events and sporting festivals. The Olympic Village will be transformed into a new vibrant city district providing new homes. It will form part of the new Stratford City development including the International Station which, when completed, will become a new prominent gateway for London and a thriving commercial centre.

A ‘Commitment to Sustainable Regeneration’ document has been prepared by the ODA and the LDA to set out the principles of the design of the new urban quarters. It delivers the necessary social infrastructure and environmental measures which will be brought forward. It describes the transformation which can begin immediately after the Games.

The wide open expanses of concourse, so important for the Games, will no longer be required in the Legacy Park. During the Park’s transformation the site will undergo significant changes in order to create a vibrant and successful park post-Games. In addition, the areas used as back of house during the Games will become development sites and extensions to the Olympic Park.

Hackney Football Pitches Allotments Wind Turbine Tennis Centre Hockey Venues Cycle Circuit Velodrome BMX Track Multi-Storey Car Park Multi-Use Sports Venue

Stratford International Station

Energy Centre Remediated and Serviced Future Development Land Stratford Regional Station Aquatics Centre Legacy Stadium Loop Road

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Greenway

Sally King, is a young adult who experienced the games as a child and now lives in the area.

Sally King drinks her morning coffee staring out the window of her new flat, across the willow trees that line the River Lea. She can remember when she first came to this part of London; Sally’s parents brought her and her sisters to see the Olympic Games in 2012. At the time her family lived in Hammersmith, they had taken the tube to King’s Cross and then the ‘Olympic Javelin’, seven minutes to Stratford’s new station and the Olympic Park. Coming out of the station, the atmosphere was electrifying. The sense of anticipation, the extraordinary street entertainers at the Park entrance, and then passing through the turnstiles with the huge Olympic Stadium rising up in front of her. As they crossed the river the Park unfolded in front of them; incredible buildings, huge structures, sculptures, banners and the excitement of so many people.

Of course, that day in 2012, she was only really interested in seeing Britain’s athletes taking on the best in the world. But the excitement as you entered the Park; all those people from so many different countries, the green of the Park, bright banners, the smells of exotic food and the sounds of music from local bands, it was an extraordinary sight and it stayed with her. And, just last month she bought one of the flats overlooking the Park; it was incredible to remember herself and her family coming to the Olympic Park as spectators but even more satisfying to sit in her own living room looking out over the River Lea and the early morning joggers in the Park. Too many memories… it’s time to get to work. Luckily it is only a short walk to her office in Stratford City.

The Games Heritage in 2013:

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• A platform for long-term urban development with a world-class public transport system; • A new public park with a sporting and recreational legacy for London, which will form the glue between the new urban neighbourhoods and become the venue of choice for hosting future national and international sporting and cultural events; • An concourse which will extend to create new connections, facilitating the connectivity between the new park and surrounding areas; • A series of world-class sporting facilities like the Aquatics Centre, the Olympic Stadium and VeloPark, which will be transformed to suit future elite training and community use; • An Olympic Loop Road which will bind the new neighbourhoods together and provide access to the legacy venues; • An improved network of green spaces connecting the Lea Valley Park to the north with canal and river routes to the Thames in the south; • Access to a new active ‘green lung’ for London which will reinvigorate the recreational and ecological role of this important riverine Lea Valley; • A new regional commercial centre developed around Stratford International Station which will form a new transport hub for London and a gateway to the UK; • An Olympic Village which will be transformed into the first new vibrant city district providing new homes; • An IBC/MPC which will be modified to provide a new high quality employment centre for the London Borough of Hackney; • A series of vacant remediated and serviced development platforms surrounding the permanent venues for occupation by residential and mixed-use neighbourhoods; • A state of the art energy infrastructure which is designed to accommodate the capacity of the future developments and which will provide 20% of the energy demand from renewable sources on site.

After the Games the Olympic Park will be transformed from a centrepiece for the Games to an integrated landscaped park serving surrounding urban neighbourhoods. The park will have numerous complex Legacy functions to perform; from acting as a ‘green lung’ for new and existing communities, and being a national and international visitor attraction; to providing a connective highway between Stratford and Hackney Wick along with hosting a significant ecological reserve.

The lush green setting will also help to drive land values and investor interest in development sites that bound the Olympic Park.

A Green Lung for London The legacy Park will form the most significant phase of a wider strategy to extend the Lea Valley Regional Park south to the Thames.

This unique site transformation will provide the confluence of both the green grid and blue ribbon concepts that will drive the wider rehabilitation of east London.

The Park will build on the grandeur of the Games to form one of the world’s great contemporary civic spaces and will become the venue of choice for hosting future sporting and cultural events. It will embody the themes of the Olympic movement including the principle of healthy living and a legacy for sport. By introducing a diverse mix of uses the Park should be an active place all year round.

It will house the major sporting venues which remain in legacy, namely the Olympic Stadium and Aquatics Centre, as well as the smaller venues including the Velodrome, BMX, hockey and tennis venues. It will include the re-provided road cycle circuit and mountain bike trails. The Park will also provide a wide variety of new active uses for different age groups, for example, a variety of children’s play facilities and multi-use Games areas, climbing and bouldering facilities, skate parks, running and cycling trails and interactive water features.

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A comprehensive network of footpaths, cycle ways and trails will be provided running through the Park. These routes will not only provide the primary connections needed between communities, public transport hubs and key destinations but will also provide a major recreational resource.

Delivering the Olympic Vision The Delivery Programme for the Olympic Park is 2-4-1: 2 years to acquire the land, start to clean it up, secure the necessary planning permissions and do the design work and procurement; 4 years to build the infrastructure and venues which will enable test events to be staged from 1 year before the Games start on 27 July 2012. It is a timetable that is challenging but achievable. We are confident that we can deliver in partnership and leave a lasting legacy the country can be proud of.

The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) is committed to the delivery of design quality. In 2006 its Chief Executive David Higgins made a number of construction commitments of which design formed a major component:

To ensure design quality is achieved in all buildings, landscape and Games facilities the ODA has developed a rigorous design management process. This includes:

The design should be creative, imaginative, sustainable and capable of meeting delivery objectives. Quality in design and construction utilising the best of modern methods will ensure that the London 2012 Games sites meet the civic needs of all stakeholders, both functionally and architecturally, for 2012 and beyond.

• • • • • • •

• The client will produce a clear brief before design commences.

• Designers will be selected according to ability and quality, together with other criteria appropriate to the scale and complexity of the project.

• Every opportunity will be taken to encourage visionary designs, including art and sculpture, and to provide opportunities for emerging designers and artists.

• The design must suit the practical, functional and operational requirements of the Games and meet both the client’s and users’ needs for 2012 and beyond, to ensure that whole-life value is delivered by addressing buildability, maintainability and usability, while driving health and safety throughout. Where appropriate it must also facilitate dismantling and re-erection.

• Project briefs will specify performance criteria to encourage innovation in order to deliver cost-effective solutions, taking advantage of opportunities for standardisation, prefabrication, off-site manufacture and adopting modern logistics principles.

• The design will be tested using third party design reviews and other tools for assessing design quality.

• IT-based collaborative tools and communication technologies will be exploited.

Delivering quality in design and access across the Olympic Park will be important throughout the planning, construction, Games operation and transformation phases of the scheme; for permanent and temporary venues and in the construction of the utilities and infrastructure that shall underpin the sporting and future community legacy. Quality will be driven by the way each element of the Park is commissioned and how the design process is managed.

Design Champion and corporate commitment ODA ownership of the Masterplan and stewardship of parameters Design quality as part of procurement processes Design review and peer group challenge Monitoring design quality from design inception to realisation Olympic Parklands Expert Advisory Group ODA advisory panels

Design Champion and Corporate Commitment As part of its commitment to design quality, the ODA has appointed Board Member Sir Nicholas Serota as Design Champion.

Sir Nicholas, along with other board members will promote design quality, artistic creativity and cultural diversity as an all pervading philosophy across all ODA workstreams and projects.

The Design Champion and the ODA Board will review and challenge design proposals coming forward and seek the advice and guidance of external stakeholders (including professional bodies such as RIBA, RTPI, Landscape Institute), eminent individuals (such as experienced architects and developers), and Government bodies (including CABE, the Mayor’s new advisory team, Design for London and English Partnerships).

ODA Ownership of the Masterplan Unlike other developments of this scale, the ODA will manage and deliver all of the infrastructure, landscape and buildings. This means the parameters set in the planning application represent more than just guidelines for subsequent development. It is intended to design and construct the defining physical framework that is required (e.g. the road and utilities network, the earthworks and bridge

To this end an ODA Core Design Team has been appointed, with a Director of Design and Regeneration, Head of Design and Principal Design Advisers that have led the development of the Masterplan and will continue to own it and ‘champion’ its delivery. The team will work with all of the infrastructure and building design teams to ensure that emerging detailed proposals conform to ‘planning parameters’ established by this application and for which planning permission is sought. The ODA Core Design Team will monitor the impact of any changes at project level (e.g. due to design constraints) and significant design proposals will be referred to it.

Design Guidelines The ODA Core Design Team will produce detailed design guidance for the delivery of the public realm, which will be the setting for each venue and ensure the Olympic Park conveys a coherent design. A series of technical documents will also be produced to provide guidance to all of its project teams in the procurement and development of design detail for venues, infrastructure, utilities and landscape. These will encompass a wide set of technical and performance requirements, including design themes, materials, sustainability performance, access and safety.

The aim will be to establish a clear and creative framework that gives definition to the establishment of buildings, temporary structures, streets and public open spaces, while providing the flexibility for numerous design teams to express individuality and innovation.

The intention of the guidelines will be to clearly express principles of design continuity while promoting creativity for the detailed design development process.

Post Games, the intention is that the guidelines become part of a statutory process in the ongoing development of the site and are used by the local planning authorities as a reference document for reviewing future applications. Additionally, to track the evolution of the development area in relation to the original guidelines, a sequential build-out plan will be maintained and updated at regular intervals. This will enable the local authorities and design team to not only judge any individual scheme in relation to the consented proposal and the Vision, but also to assess any impact on future developments.

Design Quality through Procurement The ODA Core Design Team will play an active role in the procurement and selection processes of other design teams. It will advise and, on occasion, lead the procurement of design and construction teams. Whatever the procurement route, there is a commitment by the Client body to delivering design quality through the selection processes adopted.

The Aquatics Centre was the first of the design competitions to hit the headlines. It will not always be possible to run international architectural competitions and a variety of different procurement routes will be used that balance costs, programme and deliverability.

However, to drive forward the commitment to deliver architectural creativity and innovation, the ODA will work hard to ensure design quality is paramount in selection and monitoring processes. The ODA will draw from CABE, RIBA and GLA guidance on competitive interview and design competition processes to ensure approaches used attract a broad range of design talent and deliver confidence in the successful team’s ability to deliver the quality and creative innovation sought. In addition the ODA will also use: • Architectural/engineering/operator focused juries for selection of design teams; • The ODA Design Panel to review and advise on design development; • Requirements imposed on development partners in the selection of design teams and design outcomes (e.g. Stratford City); and • Parallel competitions for design/construction teams and ideas/ end users (e.g. VeloPark and IBC/MPC).

Design Review and Peer Review The ODA is advised by a Design Review Panel (run jointly by CABE and Design for London) which scrutinises the design of the buildings in the Olympic Park. It comprises a group of leading architects, engineers and landscape designers. To date, the Panel has proved helpful in influencing the development of the Masterplan and planning application material. On submission of planning applications the ODA Planning Authority can also draw on the Panel’s advice.

The Panel also plays a wider advisory function. Some of its members will help review ODA design and procurement briefs and provide guidance on wider strategy.

The ODA is also establishing its own internal peer review process. Each project will be required to undergo a peer review process at all stages of design development, from inception and brief, through the RIBA stages and into construction. The Peer Review Group will be made up of expert architects, engineers and other professionals able to challenge and encourage design teams to drive innovation, creativity and quality.

ODA Advisory Panels The ODA has established two Access Panels to provide technical input into developing the Olympic, Paralympic and Legacy Transformation proposals. Both will scrutinise and advise project teams progressing the development designs.

It is envisaged that further project-specific groups will be set up to examine and advise on major infrastructure or zones in the Park. The first of these will be the Olympic Park Expert Advisory Group to be established early in 2007.

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construction) and enforce adherence to the Masterplan principles in all other buildings and landscape proposals.

Satyajit Banerji is a local resident who volunteered for the games and remains in the area.

Satyajit Banerji looked ahead to the Olympic Stadium and smiled. He was remembering the first time he walked this way as a volunteer for the 2012 Games.

From his home in Leyton, Satyajit had watched the stadium emerge out of the construction site. Every day as he walked to work he would notice a change in the structure. At first, it seemed that it would never get out of the ground – it seemed to take ages for all the grading and foundation work. Then the superstructure began to take shape and within no time, the roof and seats and lights and bridges combined to form an extraordinary building. When he finally got to visit the stadium at one of the test events, he knew he had to be involved. During the Games, Satyajit had been a volunteer; showing people around the Olympic Park, answering questions, using his language skills to help the spectators get the best out of their day. He remembers thinking that in the summer of 2012 the East End was the friendliest place on the planet and this pride in his community is still very much alive.

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Now that the Games have come and gone, Satyajit is still involved. He had helped manage the transition of the Olympic Stadium from world stage to a fantastic London and neighbourhood facility. Today he is managing and supervising the final of the London schools athletics championships. Maybe today he will see the next generation of champions in action.

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