With the construction stage basically completed, the question of sustainability is the one that keeps being posed when pundits talk about the mega-project that will be the 2012 Olympics. The expectation is developing towards fever-pitch for next summers olympic games but what the take on the long-term affect of the olympic games will be remains uncertain.
Some 24 building projects have been done, including a £537 million Stadium and £269 million Aquatics Hub. In contrast, the much-touted Olympic Village which will house 17,000 sports athletes and representatives from over two hundred countries has now been sold to the property business belonging to Qatar’s royal family with an claimed loss of approximately £275 million pounds. Its hard not to have some sympathy however, as its not as if you could just take spons off the shelf and accurately cost up unique one-off projects like these.
So, as great areas of East London are ‘regenerated’, large sums of cash are changing hands. There was an air of staunch earnestness to the OPLC’s plans to engender viable long-term urban development, however some believe the goal will vanish under financial pressures post-Games.
A very important factor that cannot be denied is the fact that Stratford – and also the greater East London area – has become commercially reinvigorated. After the closing ceremony of the Games, the Olympic Village will be reworked, with sporting dormitories changed into 2,818 flats and houses, while 8,000 new homes are going to be built in five new neighbourhoods around the Olympic Park over the next decade.
Although many have concerns about generic apartments popping up en masse, the OPLC has outlined ideas for low-rise terrace and mews houses with back gardens, eschewing previously-proposed high-density complexes. But with only 50 percent these properties being identified as ‘affordable’ by Triathlon Homes, some are pondering just what these ‘Olympic communities’ will be like in years to come.
The games centrepiece, meanwhile, ought to leave a lasting impact. The Olympic Stadium will have a capacity of 80,000 seats, making it the third-largest stadium in Britain behind Twickenham and Wembley. An axonometric view of the stadium shows its layered composition, with a demountable steel and concrete upper level holding 55,000.
It is the lightest Olympic Stadium ever, utilising recycled gas piping for the roof truss as well as a modest 10,000 tonnes of steel. A polythene wrap will encircle the stadium which will give a ‘clear and memorable identity to the stadium’ according to Rod Sheard of architects Populous.
Inevitably, time will tell if the Games’ legacy proves to be a long lasting one. The National Audit Office have referred to the final cost of 2012 as ‘inherently uncertain’ and so at the very least it’s hoped that all this outlay generates a positive impact that’ll be felt for many years.
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