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Location Information:
The
London Olympic Stadium will be the
centrepiece of the Summer
Olympics and Paralympics. 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
making it temporarily the third
largest stadium in Britain behind
Wembley Stadium and Twickenham
Stadium. Land preparation for the
stadium began in mid 2007, with the
official construction start date on
22 May 2008, although piling works
for the foundation unofficially
began four weeks ahead of that date.
The
stadium design was launched on 7
November 2007. As a "unique 80,000
seat stadium, it will be the
centrepiece for the Games,
hosting the opening and closing
ceremonies and the athletics events,
converting down to a 25,000 seat
permanent stadium after the Games,
when it will become a new home for
athletics, combined with other
sporting, community and educational
uses", according to LOCOG.
As of
June 2009, the stadium's track and
field arena has been excavated out
of the soft clay found on the site,
around which permanent seating for
25,000 has been assembled, using
concrete "rakers". The natural slope
of the land is incorporated into the
design, with warm-up and changing
areas being dug into a semi basement
position at the lower end. A
demountable lightweight steel and
concrete upper tier has been built
up from this “bowl” to accommodate a
further 55,000 spectators, and is
nearing completion
The
stadium site is on former industrial
land between the Old River Lee
(which rejoins the Navigation below
Old Ford Lock), the City Mill River,
and the Old Pudding Mill River;
parts of the Bow Back Rivers.
Another branch of this system, St
Thomas' Creek, 200 metres to the
south, completes an "island"
surrounded by water. Two hundred
metres to the east is the Waterworks
River; on the eastern bank will be
the Aquatics Centre.
This
"island" site for the stadium lies
at the southern end of the Olympic
Park. The existing waterways will be
modified to surround the stadium,
and access will be via several
footbridges positioned around the
building's perimeter.
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