G
reenwich Park is to provide a spectacular site for the equestrian and modern pentathlon events at the 2012 Olympics, set in
seventy-three hectares of lush parkland with views across the capital. Yet, it has not been an easy road to create an Olympic venue - complete with a world-class cross country course - from scratch. There was opposition from locals and others who feared that the development would irreparably damage a historic park, and the venue has had to remain largely open to the public throughout its construction. With eventing specialist, Tim Hadaway, as equestrian manager for the London Olympics Organising Committe (LOCOG), the challenge was set in 2008 to assess whether the exacting standards of modern equestrian sport could be met on such a sensitive site. The plan was to develop a world class cross country course, with temporary fences (jumps), making use of the topography and landscape of the historic park. The STRI was initially involved in the scoping exercise, at the
end of 2008, to establish how the turf surface in the park could be brought up to the required standard within the constraints of the site, and its proposals became an essential part of the planning application that was required for the construction to go ahead. “During 2009, we produced a method statement that was used to get the planning permission, and supported LOCOG in public meetings and presentations,” explained Lee Penrose, STRI Strategic Projects Manager. “We had to plan the development of the cross country course, literally on a metre by metre basis, to achieve the standards required for an Olympic competition within the constraints of the site.”
On every part of the site, there were ecological features to consider. Greenwich Park has more veteran trees than any other park in the country, as well as a number of rare habitats, including acid grasslands. And then there were the archaeological features - the all-weather arena at the centre of the course is surrounded by a parterre which could not be altered in any way, while the planned site for one of the fences was a Roman temple. “These features had to be protected
anywhere that the course ran over or alongside them, and this affected everything from the type of equipment used to vehicle movements on the course,” explained Lee. “It is certainly the most complex sportsturf contract that we have ever been involved with.” The plan of action to develop and construct the course involved using aerial photographs and detailed maps to precisely chart the location and nature of the sensitive areas, and the work has required constant monitoring to ensure that the LOCOG contractors meet the exacting planning requirements.
GPS mapping and guidance has
proved an essential tool for this, ensuring that machinery operators are always aware of any protected features. “For example, we couldn’t just vertidrain to a uniform depth around the course because of the risk of hitting archaeological works,” said Lee. However, even this was not straightforward - a steep south-north gradient on the site, and shading from the numerous trees, meant that basic GPS systems could ‘drop out’ all too often. Lee approached positioning equipment specialist Trimble, who were working on a system using Real Time
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