The Olympic Park in London, United Kingdom, is a sporting complex built for the 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Paralympics, situated to the east of the city adjacent to the Stratford City development. It contains the athletes' Olympic Village and several of the sporting venues including the Olympic Stadium and London Aquatics Centre, besides the London Olympics Media Centre. The park is overlooked by the ArcelorMittal Orbit, an observation tower and Britain's largest piece of public art. After the Olympics, the park is to be known as Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II,[1] though it will not be an official Royal Park of London.[2]
Olympic Park | |
|---|---|
 Olympic Park in April 2012 | |
 Map of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park | |
| Country | England, United Kingdom |
| City | London |
| District | Stratford, Bow, Leyton, Homerton |
| Time zone | UTC0 (UTC) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (BST) |
| Postcode | |
| Website | london2012 |
Location
The site covers parts of Stratford, Bow, Leyton and Homerton in East London, overlooking the A12 road. The Royal Mail has given the park and Stratford City the postcode E20, which was previously only used by the television soap opera EastEnders for the fictional suburb of Walford.[3]
What was here before=
Yada yada yada, look at this article. (But seriously people want to know about what was here beforehand and otherwise this wikipedia article resembles a press release). http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/interactive/2012/jul/27/olympic-regeneration-legacy-stratford
Transport
Four railway stations are located in the immediate vicinity of the park:
- Hackney Wick
- Stratford station
- Stratford International
- Pudding Mill Lane DLR station (closed during the Olympics)
Design and construction
The park was designed by the EDAW Consortium (including EDAW and Buro Happold), working with Arup and WS Atkins. The park including legacy was taken over by LDA Design in conjunction with Hargreaves Associates.
London's Olympic and Paralympic bid proposed that there would be four arenas in the park, but the revised master plan published in 2006 reduced this to three, with the volleyball events moved to the Earls Court Exhibition Centre.[4] The fencing arena was also cancelled, with the fencing events taking place at ExCeL London. The remaining indoor arenas are the Basketball Arena and the Copper Box. The final design of the park was approved by the Olympic Delivery Authority and its planning-decisions committee.
To enable the major phase of construction to begin, the 52 electricity pylons, up to 65 metres (213 feet) high, that dominated the landscape in and around the park were removed, and the electricity for the park is now run through underground tunnels.[5]
Sports venues
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Legacy
The park will be put to a number of uses after the Olympics have finished:[6][7]
- It will form a key part of the new East London Tech City technology hub.[8]
- The park will be transformed into one of the largest urban parks created in Europe for more than 150 years, designed to enrich the local ecology by restoring wetland habitats and planting native species.[9]
- A new university will be founded to make use of the sporting facilities and high-tech communications infrastructure remaining after the Olympics and will specialise in sport science, digital media and green technology.[7]
- The sports facilities will be made open for use by local sports clubs and societies.[citation needed]
- The Olympic Village will be converted into 3,600 apartments as East Village, located next to the Stratford City development.
- The Manor Garden Allotments will be reinstated.[10]
- Further housing as well as amenities will be constructed.[citation needed]
- The park will be home to the ArcelorMittal Orbit, a steel tower which is the largest public work of art in the UK. After the Olympics, it will be used as a tourist attraction.[11]
On 2 August 2011, it was announced that the five new communities to occupy the site eventually will be named (anti-clockwise from north-east) Chobham Manor, East Wick, Sweetwater, Pudding Mill, and Marshgate Wharf. All these names have historical backgrounds.[12]
On 27 February 2012, it was announced that an Olympic Museum will be opened at the park in 2014.[13] It was announced in March 2012 that England will host the 2015 European Hockey Championships, which will take place at the Lee Valley Hockey Centre.[14]
Football
On 11 February 2011, West Ham United were selected as preferred bidders, ahead of Tottenham Hotspur, to take over the stadium as a football venue after the end of the games. However, five days later Leyton Orient chairman Barry Hearn announced that he would be challenging the decision to allow West Ham to relocate to the stadium, as he believed that having West Ham playing within one mile (two kilometres) of their Brisbane Road stadium could cost Orient support and even their existence.[15] Ironically, Hearn had expressed interest some years earlier in moving Orient to Olympic Park and reducing its capacity to 25,000 seats,[16] while West Ham would cut the capacity to 60,000 if their relocation went ahead.[17]
See also
References
- ^ Games Site Renamed the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park BBC News, 7 October 2010; Retrieved 12 May 2012
- ^ Minton, Anna (2012). Ground Control (2nd ed.). Penguin. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
- ^ Olympic Park To Share EastEnders' Walford E20 Postcode BBC News, 19 March 2011; Retrieved 12 May 2012
- ^ "London Unveils Olympic Masterplan". BBC Sport. 7 June 2006. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
- ^ Last pylon removed from Olympic Park as £250m powerlines project delivered on time and to budget London 2012, 9 December 2008
- ^ Building London 2012 London 2012
- ^ a b Gourlay, Chris (19 April 2009). "University To Be Built in London Olympic Park". The Times. (subscription required)
- ^ "Cameron Reveals Silicon Valley Vision for East London". BBC News. 3 November 2010. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
- ^ "London Games Promises Beautiful Green Legacy". London Press Service. 1 February 2012.
- ^ Last Stand on Olympic Allotments BBC News, 24 September 2007; Retrieved 16 July 2012
- ^ Brown, Mark (31 March 2010). "Climb This: Anish Kapoor's Massive Artwork That Will Tower over London". guardian.co.uk.
- ^ "London 2012 Olympic Park Neighbourhood Names Revealed". BBC News. 2 August 2011.
- ^ Olympic Museum To Be Opened on Olympic Park after London 2012 Inside the Games, 27 February 2012
- ^ England To Host 2015 European Hockey Championships at Olympic Park Inside the Games, 21 March 2012
- ^ "Olympic Stadium Ruling Challenged". FootballFanCast.com. Snack Media. 21 February 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
- ^ McNulty, Phil (8 November 2006). "Orient Reveal Olympic Switch Hope". BBC Sport. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
- ^ "Orient Enters Arena over Olympic Stadium Future". FMWorld. British Institute of Facilities Management. 16 February 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
