Touring the London Olympics 2012 Site
“On Wednesday 24th June I was taken on a tour of the main London Olympics site in Stratford. Amidst the piles of aggregate and scurrying trucks it was possible to see real progress on the main Olympics buildings.
The framework of the main stadium is nearing completion and it is easy to see the upper tiers of seating decks, which will be removed when the games finishes, reducing it from an 80,000 seat venue to 25,000 seats. These upper tiers will as a consequence not have public conveniences or catering facilities.
The Stadium will be encircled by a 20 metre high wrap, likely to be made of plastics.
The Aquatics Centre ‘wave’ 2,800 tonne roof is taking shape with temporary supports for the complicated steelwork. The centre is designed by architect Zaha Hadid. It will have an aluminium covering.
We saw the site for the wind turbine which, after the Games are over, will provide power for 1,000 homes. The concrete lift shafts for the Olympic village buildings are currently being constructed.
The Olympics Delivery Authority is putting down 16km of pipework and certainly I saw throughout the park stocks of coloured plastic pipes for: water, gas, sewage and communications. District heating will be provided by the Energy Centre through plastic pipes: 57% of all supplies come in by rail and water.
Contracts have been awarded for PVC flooring in the main Stratford site but also in the Weymouth building for the sailing competitions.
There are 4,500 workers on the site and this will soon double. Construction of the main buildings is 3 months ahead of schedule.
The Stratford railway station adjacent to the Olympics Park is undergoing considerable redevelopment and the new Javelin trains from Kings Cross station will only take seven minutes to get there.
My overall impression was of good progress. It’s rare in these times to see such an active building site!”
