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When London won the bid to host the 2012 Olympics it looked like it was more about taking part than winning awards. But the way London created the venues and athletes’ village has set the stage for sporting success
Words Hugh Pearman | Main image Populous
READY, STEADY...
I WAS ONE OF THE NAYSAYERS when they made the surprise announcement, back in 2005, that London was to host the 2012 Olympics. And remember, it WAS a surprise – few seriously expected London to win despite all the brave talk. I’d assumed that Paris would get the nod, and so much the better. This was in the aftermath of the saga of the building of Wembley Stadium, and it was easy to imagine that chapter of accidents scaled up. Besides, nobody could trump what Beijing was preparing for 2008. Meanwhile the centrist French were used to their grands projets, would deliver the Olympics without undue fuss, while we Brits would be spared the embarrassment and expense of fouling up yet another big national construction project which would anyway be a security nightmare. All we would have to do, if we cared tuppence about the Olympics anyway, was let the Eurostar take the strain. The day after the announcement, the horrific London underground bombings of 7/7 happened and it seemed that our worst fears were already being realised. Now here we are, and I was wrong. The design and construction
programme of the venues has been close to exemplary. Of course, there have been glitches and cost escalation but, in the overall scheme of things, not too bad. A full year before the event was due to begin, all the major venues and most of the minor ones were complete, with test events taking place (compare that with the last-minute shambles of the Athens Olympics of 2004). A swathe of post-industrial east London has been transformed and a viable future for the venues established. London has paid more attention to temporary structures (for instance basketball and water polo) and shrinkable ones (the Aquatics Centre, the main stadium) than any previous host city. We have also invested far more in the ‘legacy mode’ for the site, not least the permanent park that will result. A network of waterways has been revived, an excellent landscape plan has been put into effect in good time
LEFT: The field of dreams takes shape. View of the Olympic site looking north.
RIBA JOURNAL : SEPTEMBER 2011
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