Olympic Delivery Authority

Investing in the future

November 2008

change

75p
in every £1 we are spending
is going on the long-term
regeneration of the area
Thinking of tomorrow today
We want to ensure that the London 2012 Olympic and
Paralympic Games are remembered, not only as a summer
of fantastic sport, but as the catalyst for long-term benefits
across the UK.
The Games also offer a unique opportunity to change and
regenerate one of the most underdeveloped areas in east
London. We are transforming the Lower Lea Valley into an urban
environment for the diverse and vibrant community that will live,
work and play in the area after 2012.
The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) is undertaking the first
phase of the physical development of the Olympic Park and
the surrounding area. We are clearing the site, creating a new
park, moving the overhead powerlines underground, building
new world-class sporting venues, and installing new utilities and
transport infrastructure.
The second phase is being led by the London Development
Agency (LDA) on an interim basis. The LDA is developing
plans for how the Park will be used after the Games: to create
a stunning new district for London; provide excellent sports
facilities after the Games; and link with surrounding areas to
create lasting change for east London.
The two phases are closely linked, with venues and parklands
being designed with their long-term use in mind. In everything
we are doing, we are thinking of tomorrow today.
David Higgins
Chief Executive
Olympic Delivery Authority
overground
Parklands
We are developing a large area of new
parklands to regenerate this part of east
London, revive the Lower Lea Valley and
create better connections between the
communities surrounding the Olympic Park.
After the Games the parklands will provide
over 100 hectares of public open space.
They will be a significant venue for
sporting, social and cultural events, as well
as providing a major new parkland area
for local residents and visitors to enjoy.
The parklands will include 45 hectares
of new habitats for wildlife, including
wetlands, woodlands and grasslands.
Energy
A new Energy Centre (pictured) and
Primary Substation are being built at
Kings Yard in the west of the Olympic
Park. These will provide efficient power,
heating and cooling systems to support
the local communities and businesses
located in the area after 2012.
A new wind turbine will be installed
at Eton Manor in the north of the Park
to contribute renewable energy to the
needs of the area.
underground
Overhead powerlines
We are taking down the 52 overhead
electricity pylons that currently dominate
the skyline in and around the Olympic
Park, now that the power carried across
the Park has been switched to the new
underground powerlines (see below).
This will clear the way for the
construction across the Park and help
to open up the land to create the new
Olympic Park.
Powerline tunnels
We have already completed one of the
biggest tunnelling projects in Europe.
Two 6km tunnels have been dug under
the Olympic Park, so that the powerlines
that were carried between Hackney and
West Ham substations by more than 50
pylons could be moved underground
(see above).
This will open up the land for the
construction of venues and infrastructure
across the Olympic Park.
Stratford City
We are making a significant
contribution to utilities, bridges and
transport infrastructure for the new
Stratford City development, which will
be in the east of the Olympic Park.
This new retail, leisure and office
development is a key building block
in the long-term regeneration of
east London.
Waterways
We are revitalising much of the
8km of waterways in or close to the
Olympic Park to enhance the natural
environment and create new green
corridors for wildlife.
This included building 550m of new
river walls. The waterways will be
used to transport construction materials
to and waste from the site by barge,
reducing the amount of construction
traffic on local roads.
Olympic Village Sporting venues
We are building around 3,000 high-
quality homes, with a mix of affordable
housing, and housing for sale and rent.
The development will also include:
new parks, public squares and open
spaces; education facilities for all
ages; and healthcare and multi-use
community facilities. During the Games
the new facilities will form the Olympic
Village and accommodate thousands
We are building new world-class
of athletes and officials.
sporting venues, including the
Aquatics Centre, Olympic Stadium
After the Games the development will
and VeloPark (pictured).
form part of the overall Stratford City
regeneration scheme, which includes new
After hosting a fantastic summer of
retail, leisure and office areas (see left).
sport in 2012, these venues will
provide facilities for elite athletes and
the local community, inspiring future
generations to take part in sport and,
for some, to become the champions
of tomorrow.
Utilities
We are installing an entirely new utilities
network beneath the Olympic Park site.
This ‘wiring’ will create the ‘backbone’
needed to support the long-term
development of the area.
We are removing, diverting or
disconnecting existing pipes, cables and
other infrastructure and building common
utility ‘trenches’ for the four new utility
networks across the Park (gas, electricity,
water and telecommunications).
Together with a new Energy Centre (see and developments in the area after 2012,
left), these will serve the local communities as well as the venues during the Games.
Bridges
We are building more than 30 new
bridges – mainly pedestrian – to
span the rivers and railway lines that
currently run through the Olympic Park
and the surrounding area.
We are planning for the long term from
the very beginning: building permanent
new bridges to meet the needs of the
area after the Games and adding
temporary structures to carry large
numbers of visitors during the Games.
The permanent bridges will create
new connections across the Park and
new links between local communities
after 2012.
Transport
We are transforming one of the most
poorly connected areas of London into
one of the best connected. Together
with our transport delivery partners
we are delivering improvements to the
Underground, rail, and the Docklands
Light Railway (DLR).
These physical enhancements include
trebling the capacity and increasing
accessibility at Stratford Regional
Station (pictured) and extending
the DLR under the River Thames to
Woolwich Arsenal.
The road and path network provided also want to change people’s attitudes
for the Games will form the basis to travel and encourage them to use
for the pedestrian, cycling and road environmentally sustainable and active
network in the Park afterwards. By transport, such as walking and cycling,
holding a ‘public transport’ Games we to get to major events in the future.

Sewer system Cleaning soil

We are cleaning up a highly
contaminated part of London as we
transform a former industrial area into
a large area of new parklands.

Across the site around 1.8 million

cubic metres of soil is being excavated,
cleaned where necessary and used to
create a new landscape.

Giant soil washing machines (pictured)

We are building a new pumping
station and 1.8km of foul sewer tunnels
underneath the Olympic Park.
are washing, sieving and shaking
out pollutants including petrol, oil, tar
and heavy metals. In the north of the
Olympic Park, 70,000 cubic metres of
industrial and domestic waste from
a 100-year-old landfill site is being
separated so it can be reused on the
Park or recycled elsewhere.

These will collect, convey and discharge

foul waste into the mains sewer system,
from residential developments on the
Park after 2012, as well as from venues
and buildings during the Games.
Olympic Delivery Authority
23rd floor, One Churchill Place
Canary Wharf, London E14 5LN
Reception +44 (0) 203 2012 000
Fax +44 (0) 203 2012 001
www.london2012.com

Jobs and skills

Building the stage for the taster day for women earlier

9%
Olympic Park workers who
London 2012 Games will give
people in London and the
UK unprecedented access to
thousands of new jobs and
career opportunities.
were previously unemployed
We have the chance to get
unemployed people into work
and to improve the skills within
communities in east London
and beyond. Currently around
one in 10 workers on the
Olympic Park was previously
unemployed.
Angela Benjamin is a qualified
articulated dump truck and
wheel load shovel driver in
the north of the Olympic Park.
She attended a construction
this year and subsequently
enrolled on a course on how
to operate a dump truck at the
Construction College of East
London on the Olympic Park.
Angela successfully completed
the four-week course, which she
quickly followed with a wheel
load shovel course.
‘I jumped at the chance to do
the course, because I heard
that people tended to get jobs,’
said Angela. ‘I love working
on the London 2012 Games
and it’s even more special
because I am helping build
it. It‘s great that it’s on my
doorstep and I only have
to get one bus to work!’

This publication is available on request in other languages

and formats. To obtain these please:
Phone 0808 100 2012
Email enquiries@london2012.com
Quoting reference number ODA 2008/088
This document can be found in the publications section of
www.london2012.com

© 2008 Olympic Delivery Authority.

The official Emblems of the London 2012 Games are © London Organising
Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Limited (LOCOG) 2007.
All rights reserved.

The construction of the venues and infrastructure of the London 2012 Games is funded by
the National Lottery through the Olympic Lottery Distributor, the Department for Culture, Media
and Sport, the Mayor of London and the London Development Agency.

This document is printed at an environmentally aware ISO14001-certified

printer on recycled paper. Published November 2008.