|
The London Olympic Stadium will be the centrepiece
of the 2012 Summer Olympics. The stadium will be located at
Marshgate Lane in Stratford in the Lower Lea Valley and will
have a capacity for the Games of approximately 80,000. Land
preparation for the stadium will begin in mid-2007, with construction
beginning in mid-2008 and completion scheduled for mid-2011.
Unlike previous Olympic Stadia, this will
be solely for athletics (track & field) and for ceremonial
usage. Whereas in previous games the Olympic Stadium has been
used for the final of the football tournament, the 2012 football
finals will be held at Wembley Stadium, which has a larger
capacity and the advantage that the seating is closer to the
pitch as there is no athletics track.
The stadium will have a distinctive appearance
due to its roof, which has been designed to wrap itself around
the stadium "in a similar way that muscles support and
represent the human body".
Developments
On 13 October 2006, LOCOG confirmed that it
had selected the Team McAlpine consortium to start negotiations
with, in hope to find the contractor fulfilling the eventual
design and building contract of the new Olympic Stadium. London
2012:Arsenal Stadium team negotiates for 2012
The ODA received international and national
interest to prequalify for the design and construction tender
but Team McAlpine was the only consortium to meet all prequalification
criteria. Team McAlpine was also the team who delivered the
locally acclaimed new Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal FC.
Team McAlpine have extensive experience in
the design and build of sports venues, including the Olympic
Stadium for the 2000 Sydney Games.
They will now enter into negotiations and
hope to officially confirm the appointment in early 2007.
The legacy plans in the London 2012 bid is to have the stadium
converted into a 25,000 seat athletics stadium with a sports
training, science and medicine center following the 2012 Paralympics.
However some football teams wish to move into
the Olympic stadium after the games. If a football team does
move into the stadium, the capacity of the stadium would decrease
to around 45,000 - 70,000 or stay at its Olympic form of 80,000.
However even if a football club does move to the Olympic Stadium,
the LOCOG wishes to also hold athletic events at the stadium,
as they wish for a athletic legacy for the stadium.
London
Olympic Transport | The
Olympic Park | Olympic
Stadium |
