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 


The handball arena’s completed rooftop


When the design was finalised, the ODA and the design team


went out to tender for a main contractor, and in September 2008 shortlisted five contractors: Barr, Buckingham, Byrne, Mansell and Verry. Verry subsequently dropped out, because of ‘other work com-


mitments’, the ODA claimed at the time, but the following spring the 100-year old contractor collapsed and the administra- tors were called in. Had the ODA opted for Verry, the project could have been delayed but Buckingham – a similar-sized but more financially stable contractor – took the job. Buckingham worked with architects Populous on the hand-


ball arena with MAKE overseeing the project on behalf of the ODA. Planning permission was secured in the first half of 2009 and Buckingham was able to start on site in July 2009 – two months earlier than anticipated – with the project scheduled to take 21 months. Two hundred concrete columns had been drilled 25m down


into the ground by December 2009, to form the foundations with 55 pile caps and 550m of concrete ground beams with the


public able to monitor the site team’s work through a webcam. Higgins comments: “Our new webcam enables people to


watch first-hand the Arena coming out of the ground as well as the other permanent Olympic Park venues as the project enters its toughest year.” A 300-tonne concrete slab was laid to support 30 concrete


walls that are 10m high and were prefabricated in Ireland. The focus then moved into the arena’s 1,000-tonne steel frame, which was being fabricated in Bolton and moved into place in July 2010. Work then began on the roof and the copper exterior was added in November 2010. In April 2011, the first game was staged at the arena with two


sides drawn from the Olympia club playing under the same con- ditions that would be used for a television broadcast. LOCOG Handball competition manager, Alex Gavrilovic said: “Even though this was just a simulation, the athletes were keen to demonstrate the speed, physicality and excitement of handball.” The next month, the handball arena became the third 2012 venue to be completed, a milestone marked by a visit by Prime


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