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NON-TRADITIONAL STRUCTURES


REUSABLE OPTIONS Located north of the Olympic Park, close to the iconic Velodrome and the BMX Track, the design brief also stated that the building should be a showcase for British engineering expertise and offer a certain ‘wow’ factor. However, Wright says that there was a budget to stick to and a main driver behind the choice of materials was that they could be reused after the event and not just recycled or skipped. “Everybody knew from the outset that


the brief wasn’t to design a reusable building – there just isn’t a reuse market for a 12,000-seat arena. If you design a temporary structure that’s going to be taken down and be put up again you have to design in inherent flexibility and durability. So, for example, you’d have to factor in the strength of the hurricane season in Jamaica or snow loads in Nor- way and this adds a premium to anything you’re doing. This truly reusable ap- proach wasn’t deemed cost-effective by the ODA,” Wright says. “Instead, we physically separated the


different elements so what we’ve got is a 1,000-tonne steel frame structure and fabric cladding as one element and the temporary scaffold seating structure as another, which, when taken down, will go straight back in the hire market. “The changing rooms, the Olympic


family lounge and the federation offices are in the form of modular accommo- dation and situated outside the main


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MATERIAL WORLD The structure won’t be leaving a foot- print either as Wright says that there is barely anything in the ground that sup- ports the building. “The whole building is just 90m wide,


30m high and 120m long and sits on 150mm thick pad foundations onto the compacted earth foundations. The foun- dations are actually smaller than that of your average house,” he says. The only bit of concrete within the


Competition floors and scoreboards, to accreditation and catering were tested at the recent London Prepares event


structure. These are fitted out for the Games but will also go back into the hire market after the event.” As regards mechanical systems, Wright


says there was no need for heating as the venue is designed for the Summer Games. The only cooling kit used at the venue is hired-in plant. “You just pump up the chamber created under the seats and it rolls out through where people sit,” Wright says. “These are low-tech handling units that come from the hire market. The lighting system is also hired and both will go back into the market af- ter the Games.”


structure is the 60m x 30m sports floor base. With dimensions set out for the larger handball court specification, the sports flooring is a Mondo cassette floor, which was laid for the recent London Prepares test events and has now been taken up and stored before the start of next summer’s Games. “The ultimate goal was to achieve a


reusable building that can break down into various components and we es- timate that about 70 per cent of the building materials used will go back to market,” says Wright. Although the building may contain a


simple structure, the outer façade fea- tures a signature design that is unique to London 2012. Wright says that its purpose is to cover


the seating bowl and keep everyone dry inside, while offering a broadcast-qual- ity environment. “Broadcasters needed a blackout environment. We wanted to create an envelope to provide a lid to


Read Sports Management online sportsmanagement.co.uk/digital 43


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