Back in time: Our coverage of London 2012

Today marks the four-year anniversary of the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. UK Construction Online takes a look back in time at our coverage from four months before the start of the greatest show on earth.

 

London 2012 Olympic Games

The countdown to the start of the London Olympics is well and truly on with only four months to go until the opening ceremony on 27 July 2012 marks the beginning of the greatest show on Earth.

With 148 countries already qualified, and over 200 expected to compete in a total of 302 events in 26 different sports, London 2012 is destined to provide many historical moments befitting the landmark 30th Olympiad.

February saw the London 2012 Organising Committee take temporary ownership of the Weymouth and Portland Sailing Village for summer as it gets ready to house the competitors and team officials taking part in the Olympic and Paralympic Games sailing events.

The Osprey Quay development will contain 84 residential units and host 700 athletes and 550 officials during the Olympic Games. Half of that number will use the accommodation during the Paralympic Games.

During the Games, each house will host around eight athletes and have all facilities except a kitchen. Athletes will eat in a temporary dining hall to be constructed on the site and have a social area in the new Chesil Cove Foundation School, which LOCOG will take temporary ownership of in May.

All the residential units are low carbon with the heating and hot water for 58 of the homes coming from a biomass heating system and many of the houses are fitted with rainwater harvesting.

As part of the commitment to ensuring a lasting legacy, the apartments will be converted into homes once the sailing competitions finish, with 25% of the housing to be made available to a registered landlord for social housing needs.

Another significant landmark on the road to London 2012 occurred in January, when the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) handed over the Olympic Village site to LOCOG. This handover, which was on time, marked the start of the huge process to fit out the new apartments and village site ready to welcome athletes and officials from around the world in six month’s time.

Four-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Matthew Pinsent helped to start the ‘bedding in’ process by helping to lift in the first of more than 16,000 beds to be installed in the village in the coming months.

The village will house up to 16,000 athletes and team officials during the Olympic Games and 6,200 athletes and team officials, plus 1,000 referees and umpires during the Paralympic Games, all from 200 countries around the world.

Now underway, the fit out work at the village includes installing 16,000 beds, 64,000 bed sheets and 21,000 pillows. There will be 11,000 sofas, 5,000 bins and 5,000 toilet brushes, 9,000 wardrobes and more than 170,000 coat hangers. Each apartment will be equipped with a television and Wi-Fi services.

A temporary 24-hour dining facility is also being constructed, complete with 5,000 seats, and with the Village Plaza Café and ‘Grab-and-go’ carts, the village will provide the largest peacetime catering operation in the world, with up to 60,000 meals served daily.

The Olympic Village Plaza will be constructed, becoming the main social hub of the village, with essential shops and services for athletes and guests including a café, general store, bank, beauty & grooming salon, internet lounge, London 2012 shop and entertainment centre.

Exercise equipment will be installed, creating a state-of-the-art athlete gym in Chobham Academy, and a Welcome Centre will be incorporated into the village, becoming the initial arriving point for athletes and officials waiting to be officially accredited for the London 2012 Games.

Again, organisers have endeavoured to ensure the village leaves a legacy, and after the Games, it will provide 2,818 new homes across 11 individually designed plots in a new community to be known as East Village. Of these, 1,379 have been purchased by joint venture Triathlon Homes to provide high quality affordable housing.

Photo (c) Victor Maschek / Shutterstock.com

 

This article first appeared in UK Construction V15 N03.

 

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