Olympic Park London

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General plan of the Olympic Park
Aerial view of the Olympic Park
In front the Olympic village, behind to the left the basketball arena and the velodrome

The Olympiapark ( English Olympic Park , officially renamed Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park after the Olympic Games 2012 on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the throne of Queen Elizabeth II ) is a park-like area in London with several important sports facilities. It was the main venue for the 2012 Olympics and the 2012 Paralympics . The 250 hectare Olympic Park is located on the Lea River in the east of the city. It was created through the complete redesign of an industrial wasteland , which also included an abandoned railway depot .

location

The area is just over two kilometers long and up to 1.25 kilometers wide in the valley of the River Lea , a tributary of the Thames . It is about 250 acres and is mainly in the Stratford district , which is part of the London Borough of Newham . Smaller parts to the west are in the districts of Bow ( London Borough of Tower Hamlets ) and Homerton ( London Borough of Hackney ), the northern tip in the district of Leyton ( London Borough of Waltham Forest ). Several streams, some of which were artificially created centuries ago, run through the area and are grouped under the name Bow Back Rivers .

The Royal Mail gave the Olympic Park and the east adjoining Stratford City development area the postal code E20, which had previously only been used for the fictional district of Walford in the television series EastEnders .

The site is accessed through two train stations. At Stratford Station on the southeast side of the park suburban trains stop from National Rail and London Overground , underground lines Central Line and Jubilee Line of the London Underground and the Docklands Light Railway (DLR). At the station Stratford International , which is in the midst of the park, keep DLR trains and trains on the high-speed line High Speed One . At the southern end of the Olympic Park is the DLR station Pudding Mill Lane , which was not operated during the Games due to capacity reasons.

Buildings

As it was expanded for the 2012 Olympic Games and the 2012 Paralympics , the Olympic Park comprised the following structures and other sports facilities:

investment capacity Competitions Remaining or re-use image
Olympic Stadium 80,000 spectators Athletics , opening and closing ceremonies Reconstruction and reduction of capacity to 60,000 spectators, West Ham United football club stadium Olympic Stadium (London), 3rd August 2012.jpg
Aquatics Center 17,500 spectators Swimming , synchronized swimming , diving Dismantling of the temporary spectator stands, continued use by sports clubs and schools London Aquatics Center, April 16, 2012.jpg
Riverbank Arena 16,000 spectators Hockey , 5 and 7-a-side football (Paralympics) Reduced to 5,000 seats, relocated to Eton Manor (see below) and renamed Lee Valley Hockey Center Riverbank Arena, April 16, 2012.jpg
Basketball arena 12,000 spectators Basketball - round games, handball final games, wheelchair rugby and wheelchair basketball (Paralympics) complete dismantling Basketball Arena, London, 14 June 2011.jpg
Copper box 7,000 spectators Handball - round games, fencing competitions of modern pentathlon Further use as a multi-purpose hall Copper Box, April 16, 2012.jpg
Velopark 6,000 spectators ( Velodrome ), 6,000 spectators (BMX system) Track cycling , BMX Dismantling of the temporary stands at the BMX facility, expansion to include a cross-country course and a road cycling course, renaming to Lee Valley VeloPark , continued use by sports clubs London Velopark, 14 June 2011.jpg
Water polo arena 5,000 spectators Water polo complete dismantling Water Polo Arena, April 16, 2012.jpg
Eton Manor 10,500 spectators (Paralympics) Wheelchair tennis (Paralympics), training center Dismantling of the temporary grandstands, continued use by sports clubs Eton Manor, April 16, 2012.jpg

In the northeastern part of the Olympic Park, between the Stratford International station and the bike park that was Olympic Village built. On an area of ​​73 hectares , a total of 17,320 beds in 3,300 apartments were available for most of the 10,520 athletes and their supervisors. In the central dining room, up to 5,500 people could be catered for at the same time. When the Games are over, the Olympic Village will become the residential district of Chobham Manor.

To the east of the Olympic Stadium, the 115-meter-high ArcelorMittal Orbit observation tower was built according to the plans of the artists and sculptors Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond . The structure was completed in 2012 and is also the largest public work of art in the UK . The London Olympics Media Center in the north-west of the Olympic Park finally provided space for the 20,000 media professionals present during the Games.

History of the site

Excavations carried out by the Archaeological Service of the Museum of London in connection with the construction of the Olympic Park have revealed numerous notable finds. On the construction site of the Aquatics Center four 3000 year old graves from the Bronze Age , the remains of a hut from the Iron Age at least 2000 years old and pottery from the 4th century were unearthed. At the location of the later Olympic Stadium, a Roman coin from around 330/335 AD was found next to a wooden river bank wall, as was a small boat from the early 19th century.

The old ford (Old Ford) immediately west of the Olympic Stadium was in ancient times the passable point over the Lea that was closest to the mouth. The Romans widened an already existing route to a road connecting Londinium (London) to Camulodunum ( Colchester ). In the Middle Ages , the marshland along the Lea began to be drained by the construction of artificial waterways, the Bow Back Rivers , and made usable for agriculture . According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , King Alfred the Great is said to have ordered a side canal to be built in 896; the resulting lowering of the water level made it impossible for the Danish Vikings to sail on the Lea with sailing ships.

The ford quickly lost its importance after a bridge was built further downstream at Bow in 1110 - allegedly at the instigation of Queen Matilda , who is said to have nearly drowned while crossing the river on the way to Barking Abbey . On the other hand, the Lea's hydropower was increasingly being used for commercial purposes. For example, from 1185 the Knights Templar operated two flour mills in the north of today's Olympic Park , the so-called Temple Mills (the name was retained as a field name). Over the centuries, more mills were added, including Bark Mill , oil mills , powder mills , sawmills and fulling mills . In the vicinity of the mills there was an estate from 1329 to about 1860 , the Chobham Manor .

Repair facility at the Stratford Works

In the 18th and especially in the 19th century, more and more industrial companies settled there because they were not tolerated near the city because of the noise and odor nuisance. These included, for example, a porcelain factory , warehouses , slaughterhouses , chemical and pharmaceutical plants, a candy factory and plastics companies. Landfills and untreated wastewater also polluted the environment. The greatest influence on the development of the area, however, had the Eastern Counties Railway locomotive factory opened in 1847 with the associated depot . In 1862 the Stratford Works came into the possession of the Great Eastern Railway (GER). After the GER was absorbed into the London and North Eastern Railway in 1923 , the Stratford Works changed into a depot . Air raids in World War II caused great damage. After more than 140 years of operation, the Stratford Works closed on March 31, 1991 as a result of rationalization measures at British Rail .

In the course of de-industrialization in the second half of the 20th century, many companies gave up their production and the site was largely fallow. The Hackney Wick Stadium, which opened in 1932, was located on the site of the Olympic Media Center. It found Speedway - and greyhound racing instead. After the operator went bankrupt in 1997, the stadium was demolished in 2003.

Redesign to the Olympic Park

Olympic Park under construction (October 2009)

On July 6, 2005, London was awarded the contract to host the Olympic Games and Paralympics in 2012. The public Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), whose task is the planning and construction of the sports and infrastructure facilities, awarded in January In 2006 the EDAW Consortium was commissioned to draft a master plan for the Olympic Park. The consortium included not only EDAW and Arup , BuroHappold Engineering and WS Atkins . Also in 2006 work began on building two cable tunnels (each 6 km in length) so that 52 overhead line masts with a height of up to 65 meters, which had previously shaped the site, could be replaced. In summer 2007 more than 220 buildings were demolished. In addition, a comprehensive remediation of contaminated sites was carried out, combined with the excavation and cleaning of the entire soil. The Lea River and the side canals of the Bow Back Rivers have been partially renatured , which has made it possible to expand wetlands .

In May 2008, construction work began on the first permanent sports facility, the Olympic Stadium, and in July 2008 at the Olympic Village. The ODA was largely able to meet its self-imposed goal of completing most of the sports facilities a year before the Games. On January 27, 2012, the Olympic Village was handed over to the LOCOG Organizing Committee . The official inauguration of the Olympic Stadium took place on May 6, 2012 - exactly 2012 hours before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games - in front of around 40,000 spectators as part of the British university and college athletics championships.

Reuse

State of the Olympic Stadium after the renovation (September 2016)
ArcelorMittal Orbit , the tube slide The Slide, opened in June 2016, can be recognized.

After the end of the games and the dismantling of the temporary sports facilities, the Olympic Park is now being used in various other ways. Most of the permanent facilities will continue to be used by local sports clubs. In addition, the sports facilities continue to be venues for international sports competitions; For example, the group stage games of the 2015 Rugby Union World Cup were held in the Olympic Stadium . The London Olympic Stadium also served as the venue for the 2017 World Athletics Championships and the 2017 World Athletics Championships for the disabled .

After extensive renovations and a reduction in audience capacity from 80,000 to 54,000, the English football club West Ham United has been using the Olympic Stadium as a new venue since the 2016/17 season. This decision was announced in March 2013 after protracted disputes. The agreement with the football club stipulates that the British Athletics Association UKA can use the stadium for its competitions for six weeks each summer.

The Chobham Manor residential area was created from the former Olympic village north of Stratford International Station . Since the completion of the renovation work, a total of 2,818 apartments, a health center and a school center for around 1,800 students have been available here. The new quarter was named after a former estate that was located here from the 14th to the 19th century.

In addition to the Olympic village, new settlements were built at four other locations. A total of around 8,000 new apartments and the associated public facilities and infrastructure were planned. These quarters are named East Wick (in the north of the Olympic Park), Sweetwater (between the Copper Box and the Olympic Stadium ), Pudding Mill (in the south of the Olympic Park) and Marshgate Wharf (also in the south of the Olympic Park). The names of these settlements also have historical roots and make no reference to the Olympic Games.

After the Olympic and Paralympic Games, a total of 90,000 m 2 of office and commercial space will be available in the former media center in the northwest of the park . Since August 2013, the TV broadcaster BT Sport has its headquarters in the media center . The University College London plans east of the Olympic Park is also building a new campus.

The ArcelorMittal Orbit observation tower will remain in the Olympic Park as a permanent reminder of the 2012 Olympic Games . It has been open to the public since April 2014. On June 24, 2016, the 78 meter high and 178 meter long tube slide The Slide , which was attached to the tower afterwards, was opened. The slide is the longest and tallest of its kind in the world.

The Manor Garden Allotments , an allotment garden on the northern edge of the Olympic Park that had existed since 1900 , had to give way to the construction of the Olympic sports facilities. To replace it, a new facility was built on Pudding Mill Lane in 2016.

Web links

Commons : Olympiapark London  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Olympic Park to share EastEnders' Walford E20 postcode. British Broadcasting Corporation, March 19, 2011, accessed May 7, 2012 .
  2. ^ DLR and the Olympics. (No longer available online.) Transport for London, archived from the original on March 22, 2012 ; accessed on May 7, 2012 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / developments.dlr.co.uk
  3. ↑ a b Olympia: The sports facilities of the Olympic Games 2012 - WELT. In: THE WORLD. Retrieved October 1, 2016 .
  4. ^ Olympic Village. (No longer available online.) London Sports Roundup, archived from the original on April 19, 2012 ; accessed on May 7, 2012 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / london-sports-roundup.co.uk
  5. ↑ a b London 2012 Olympic Park neighborhood names revealed. BBC News, August 2, 2011, accessed October 1, 2016 .
  6. ^ ArcelorMittal Orbit. In: visitlondon.com. Retrieved October 1, 2016 .
  7. ^ History of the Olympic Park Area. London Online, accessed May 8, 2012 .
  8. ↑ Discover. (PDF, 1.7 MB) Olympic Delivery Authority, November 2008, accessed on May 8, 2012 .
  9. ^ TFT Baker: Communications - roads. In: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11: Stepney, Bethnal Green. British History Online, 1998, accessed May 8, 2012 .
  10. ↑ John Boyes, Ronald Russell: The Canals of Eastern England . David and Charles, Newton Abbot 1977, ISBN 978-0-7153-7415-3 , pp. 13 .
  11. ^ Historic Locations in Bromley-by-Bow. (No longer available online.) Kingsley Hall Community Center, archived from the original on July 17, 2012 ; accessed on May 8, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kingsleyhall.co.uk
  12. ↑ WRPowell: Economic history. In: A History of the County of Essex: Volume 6. British History Online, 1973, accessed May 8, 2012 .
  13. ↑ WRPowell: Manors and other estates. In: A History of the County of Essex: Volume 6. British History Online, 1973, accessed May 8, 2012 .
  14. ↑ In pictures: History of the Olympic Park. British Broadcasting Company, March 22, 2011, accessed May 8, 2012 .
  15. ^ London & North Eastern Railway Stratford Locomotive Works. Rail UK, June 22, 2003, accessed May 8, 2012 .
  16. ^ London 2012 Olympic Park Master Plan. Design Build Network, accessed May 8, 2012 .
  17. ↑ Demolish, Dig, Design. (PDF, 9.7 MB) Olympic Delivery Authority, December 2007, accessed on May 8, 2012 .
  18. ↑ London 2012: Olympic Village handed over to organizers. British Broadcasting Corporation, January 27, 2012, accessed May 8, 2012 .
  19. ↑ London 2012: Olympic Stadium is officially opened. British Broadcasting Corporation, May 8, 2012, accessed May 8, 2012 .
  20. ↑ World Championships in Athletics | Summer of World Athletics. International Association of Athletics Federations, accessed October 1, 2016 .
  21. ^ Nick Wright: London Mayor Boris Johnson announces West Ham win battle for Olympic Stadium. (No longer available online.) London24, March 22, 2013, archived from the original on January 12, 2014 ; accessed on January 12, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.london24.com
  22. ↑ London 2012 Olympic Park neighborhood names revealed. British Broadcasting Corporation, August 2, 2011, accessed May 8, 2012 .
  23. ↑ BT Sport to make iCity and the Olympic Broadcast Center its home production. BT Group, November 29, 2012, accessed October 1, 2016 .
  24. ↑ Universities' Olympic legacy will be one of collaboration. British Broadcasting Corporation, February 20, 2012, accessed May 8, 2012 .
  25. ↑ Longest tunnel slide in the world opens in London! April 29, 2016. Retrieved October 1, 2016 .
  26. ^ Last stand on Olympic allotments. British Broadcasting Corporation, September 24, 2007, accessed May 8, 2012 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 32 ′ 45.6 "  N , 0 ° 0 ′ 46.8"  W.