Celebrating ten years of the Olympic Park

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Olympics in London 2012, and perhaps more significantly, the 10th anniversary of the creation of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park: by any measure, one of the most successful Olympic parks to be created in recent years, with a legacy for sport, community and landscape. Some of those involved ten years ago and many of those still involved in its design and management comment on this astonishing legacy.

Landscape Legacy

by Ruth Lin Wong Holmes

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is celebrating a place which created something special in people’s minds and a designed London landscape that had not been seen since the creation of The Regent’s Park. It has been heralded 1 as a successful Olympic Park with a legacy for sport, community, ecology and landscape – the continued development amplifying business innovation, education, art and culture.

With the Park at the heart of developing a ‘Great Estate’ in mind, it is a perfect time to reflect on beauty, as the government has placed beauty on the agenda within the context of planning legislation reform in England. The National Planning Policy Framework includes reference to beauty within the three intertwining sustainable development objectives – economic, social and environmental. The social objective ‘to support strong, vibrant and healthy communities… by fostering well-designed beautiful and safe places’ is encapsulated in the organisation, that manages and maintains the Park, the Legacy Corporation’s priority themes of promoting convergence, employment and community participation, championing equalities and inclusion, and ensuring high quality design and ensuring environmental sustainability. With preparation to transition to a different organisation on the horizon, the Corporation is looking to embed these themes as part of the foundation of the stewardship of the estate.

There is no doubt that the original designers and landscape architect clients had a clear vision to create something beautiful that fulfilled a multitude of other functions. The directive to construct a place to host the ‘greatest show on earth’ which would be the greenest, most accessible and sustainable Games followed throughout the design and construction process.

Great British Garden Pond next to the London Stadium

© London Legacy Development Corporation

What have we been left with as a legacy? There are two distinct areas of the Park that have clear identities. The south of the Park is bold and bright, full of activity and horticultural delight with the planting designs of Piet Oudolf, Nigel Dunnett, James Hitchmough and Sarah Price. The water fountains, artwork and playful landscape are there to entertain, and it is often observed to be the most vibrant, attractive and diversely populated part of the Park. Confidence is drawn from Great Dixter’s research indicating their sophisticated horticulture delivers successfully for beauty and biodiversity 2 . The north of the Park, by contrast, is a controlled and managed blend of contoured landscape, where habitat areas support a variety of wildlife, and where it is noted to be calmer and soothing with its green tones and integration of water and topography. Wide accessible paths cut through the sculpted landscape with the newer addition of the London Blossom Garden bringing interest and colour through flowering trees, surfacing detail and bespoke benches.

A benefit of having such a young and developing landscape is that the first generation of designers are invited back annually to guide the current Park management staff. There is a fascinating exchange of views and learning at each meeting where a deep understanding of the planting design is explored and tested. Delicate light touch interventions each year are monitored, and largescale changes are planned to prolong the same horticultural interest as when the gardens were designed in 2012. Regular correspondence with the landscape architects who guided and designed elements of the Park is something which is unique and different about this site. Other significant parks require historical research and interpretation of a design intent, with the challenge of translating this into modern landscape management practices and contemporary use of the park. Promenading and perambulation to experience a ‘piece of the countryside’ in the city has been replaced with places to ‘do something’ where you feel safe and welcomed.

Gardens looking back to The Podium

© Rahil Ahmad/LLDC – 2012

North Park view of wetlands along River Lea

© In-Press/LLDC

Developments around the Park have been rising out of the ground at a spectacular rate, with a variety of architectural quality, massing and built form. The dominant emerging skyline has been enclosing the Park, forming a legible boundary. Sometimes the boundary is formed in a traditional way with park railing, road and residential building frontage. Other parts of the Park have a looser enclosure with transport infrastructure, cultural establishments and education buildings between the sporting venues of London Stadium and London Aquatics Centre. The pavilion buildings, like the Velodrome, sit within the landscape providing the termination of views, landmarks and large-scale wayfinding that makes the Park legible despite the complexity of levels, waterways, bridges and landform. The legacy venues form part of the set piece modern picturesque views, that are accessible to everyone should they choose to visit – offering that Instamoment – on the looped paths that gently guide people around the Park.

The beauty of the Park, and of many parks of a reasonable size or scale 3 like other London parks such as Crystal Palace Park, Alexandra Park, Brockwell Park, Dulwich Park, Battersea Park and The Royal Parks, is that they have the capacity to have something to delight everyone. Research touches on the powerful attractive nature of planting and flowers for both people and wildlife 4 . But does everyone find the wilder aesthetic of the north of the Park beautiful? Not everyone will think so; for some it is a calm and magical place of great beauty, where spotting a kingfisher or observing the bumble bee brings great joy – away from the intensity of the high street or office development. For others it is untidy, uncared for and does not feel safe 5 . There is concern that this wild, ecological definition of beauty is not inclusive, welcoming or inviting and the transition between the more rural environment that reaches out of London along the Lee Valley 6 was not designed for the global majority. Therein lies one of the challenges of stewardship – providing equitable enjoyment of the Park.

Design is part of the equation, with the ongoing management and maintenance being another. Programming of spaces with invitation and welcome to ‘do something’ in the Park, along with the reinvention of spaces or insertion of new ideas or changes, can make the difference – but they have to be thoughtful and considered, ideally with an element of co-design with the communities who deserve to be better served. Landscapes are dynamic and continually change in response to the environment, climate, politics, funding, resources and the people who shape them. Those who have the power to influence and deliver change shifts and alters over time and the choices around what is beautiful, significant and valuable are moulded by influence and advocacy. The legacy we want to leave and be sustained sits within policy, guidance, corporate philosophy and people’s memories.

The quality of the design of significant parks and open spaces in London has left a special legacy that is being continued through skilled and careful management and maintenance, recorded in drawings, reports and management plans and the continuum of people handing on their knowledge over generations. The skill of interpreting design intent and how that can be transformed and adapted for the shifting use of greenspace takes a collaborative approach, talented people and sufficient resources. Fast-forward another 10 years, and Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will have changed significantly, with the greenspace nestling within the wider estate, with homes and offices overlooking the landscape. Hopefully that landscape will be a delightful place where everyone can find something they find beautiful and can enjoy. Future communities will be able to access the ecological, equitable and economically important benefits of the Park, and that it will function in a sustainable, equitable and ecological way.

Wetlands along the River Lea

© In-Press/LLDC

Aerial view of North Park showing Lee Valley VeloPark, Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre and part of Chobham Manor neighbourhood

© In-Press/LLDC

Ruth Lin Wong Holmes has 25 years’ experience as a Chartered Landscape Architect working for the public, private and voluntary sectors. Currently, she works at the London Legacy Development Corporation, responsible for Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and developing neighbourhoods. She worked for The Royal Parks caring for historic parkland in London after working for a Groundwork Trust.