Olympic Village (London)
The Olympic Village ( English Olympic Village ) is a housing estate in London . It is located in the district of Stratford ( London Borough of Newham ), in the northeast part of the Olympic Park . This is where most of the athletes and coaches lived during the 2012 Olympic Games and 2012 Paralympics . The Olympic village is bordered to the south by Stratford International station and to the northwest by the temporary basketball arena .
In 1908 and 1948, when the Olympic Games were also held in London, there were no Olympic villages; the athletes lived in hotels and schools at the time.
Project development
In May 2008, the Australian company Lend Lease Group was awarded the contract by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) to build the Olympic village. Various media suspected nepotism in this deal , as the current ODA chairman David Higgins was formerly CEO of Lend Lease. Previously there was largely unused industrial wasteland on the site . Construction work began in May 2008. 28 buildings had to be demolished, including a cold store and two twelve-story high-rise buildings from the University of East London .
Originally, Lend Lease not only wanted to build the Olympic Village, but also largely finance it itself and then sell the apartments at a profit. However, as a result of the global economic crisis , the company was unable to raise enough capital to pre-finance the £ 1.1 billion construction project. In May 2009 the British state had to step in and pay the costs. In total, the government paid £ 750 million, a further £ 168 million was borrowed from banks (including the European Investment Bank ) and £ 179 million came from cost savings. In August 2011, the ODA sold the Olympic Village to the real estate company of the ruling family of Qatar for £ 557 million ; the taxpayers lost £ 275 million.
On January 27, 2012, the Olympic Village was handed over to the LOCOG Organizing Committee , whereupon it furnished the completed buildings for the needs of the athletes. During the games, 17,320 beds are available for athletes and supervisors. All apartments have a television, internet connection and WiFi . There are also various shops, leisure activities and medical facilities. In the central dining room, 5500 people can be catered for at the same time.
After the games and the renovations that followed, there will be a total of 2,818 apartments. Of these, 1,439 are sold as condominiums and 1,379 are let on social terms. The settlement will also include day care centers, a health center, 10 hectares of green space and a school complex for 1,800 students. The settlement will be named Chobham Manor, named after an estate that existed on the site from the 14th to 19th centuries.
Web links
- Olympic Village (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ What is the real price of the London Olympics? The Guardian, April 4, 2012, accessed July 26, 2012 .
- ^ Construction work starts on Olympic Village. LOCOG , June 3, 2008, accessed July 26, 2012 .
- ↑ Olympic Village to be fully funded by taxpayers. The Guardian, May 13, 2009, accessed July 26, 2012 .
- ↑ Olympic Village snapped up by Qatari ruling family for £ 557m. The Guardian , August 12, 2011, accessed July 26, 2012 .
- ↑ London 2012: Olympic Village handed over to organizers. British Broadcasting Corporation , January 27, 2012, accessed July 26, 2012 .
- ^ Olympic Village. (No longer available online.) London Sports Roundup, archived from the original on April 19, 2012 ; accessed on July 26, 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.
- ^ Athletes' Village new homes and community facilities take shape. LOCOG, June 4, 2010, accessed July 26, 2012 .
- ↑ London 2012 Olympic Park neighborhood names revealed. British Broadcasting Corporation, August 2, 2011, accessed July 26, 2012 .
Coordinates: 51 ° 32 '51.9 " N , 0 ° 0' 38.7" W.