Legacy mode

[munichfan]

Yeah, they were that one detail to make this a really special and nice stadium.

[Rob2012]

Yeah, they were that one detail to make this a really special and nice stadium.

This is the plan once the extended roof has been installed....

[JMarkSnow2012]

This is the plan once the extended roof has been installed....

That's a lorra lorra lights (by distinct contrast with Tuesday night, when the stadium was visible only as a deeper darkness against the night sky).

By the way, here's The Guardian's take on the continuing stadium use controversy:

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/nov/20/olympic-stadium-conversion-west-ham-leyton-orient

Anyway, say goodbye to the old....

[Citius Altius Fortius]

I had been to Stratford yesterday - the Aquatic Centre without the stands look great - the other part of the Olympic Park from 2012 looks very "unfinished"...

[Rob2012]

From @waypointtweet:

The outside of the London Olympic Aquatic Centre

The London Olympic Aquatic Centre - most stunning aquatic facility I've ever seen

https://twitter.com/waypointtweet

[JMarkSnow2012]

I had been to Stratford yesterday - the Aquatic Centre without the stands look great - the other part of the Olympic Park from 2012 looks very "unfinished"...

Judging from the LLDC's Interactive Map (see top-right corner of their home page

http://www.londonlegacy.co.uk ), there will be so much new development that the area is going to look "unfinished" for decades to come!

[The Tower Bridge Fox]

Covering the Athletics track in concrete. I don’t like the sound of that,

Its starting to sound like the New Wembley all over again.

Where the athletics track was just a theoretical possibility, that in reality was to impractical to use.

Lets hope this isn’t going to be the case.

I would have rather the athletics track was there all the time.

[Rob2012]

Covering the Athletics track in concrete. I don’t like the sound of that,

Its starting to sound like the New Wembley all over again.

Where the athletics track was just a theoretical possibility, that in reality was to impractical to use.

Lets hope this isn’t going to be the case.

I would have rather the athletics track was there all the time.

Well, Boris didn't want to pay for that, so it'll be covered by retractable seating (which will be paid for by the taxpayer anyway for West Ham's benefit). In any case British Athletics have a 50 year contract for use of the stadium, so of course the track will be unconvered during a few weeks in Summer. Don't worry about that! And furthermore, if athletics really wasn't required, they'd have given the stadium plot over to Spurs and saved the taxpayer a furhter £150m in conversion costs.

The concrete that is currently there is only to protect the track whilst the roof is being installed. Here's a summary of what will happen:

"They've raised the ground to create more floor space in order to construct the new roof, whist the recycled concrete and dirt also protects the track. Once the new roof is complete the recycled concrete and dirt will be removed so the lower bowl can be completed again. After the 2015 RWC the lower bowl will be demolished and replaced by the retractable stands."

[Martijn]

It's sad to see that those iconic floodlight towers are being removed. (I really don't like the design of the new roof)

A homage to the "old stadium":

;-)

[The Tower Bridge Fox]

The new roof from the inside is sort of reminiscent of the triangular lights,

I do hope the water but signs remain ,and the staduim sign stay the same.

[Rob2012]

I think they're simply reusing the lights in the new roof, turning them upsidedown in fact.

[Martijn]

I think they're simply reusing the lights in the new roof, turning them upsidedown in fact.

I thought so also, but:

Work is underway to remove the triangular floodlights, described by the legacy company as “iconic,” although a similar design will feature in the revamped stadium. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/olympic-stadium-naming-rights-expected-to-be-sold-within-the-next-year/2013/11/20/bc7e0a3c-51fc-11e3-9ee6-2580086d8254_story.html)

So they are not going to reuse the actual floodlights?

----------------------------

London 2012 venue to be the new Diving High Performance Centre

London Aquatics Centre is to be the new Diving High Performance Centre for British Swimming from spring next year.

The centre, which hosted the 2012 Olympic diving events, will open to the public as well as elite athletes.

Olympic bronze medallist Tom Daley is considering moving to London from his base in Plymouth in 2014.

"A facility like this will help shape the next generation of athletes," said British Diving's national performance director Alexei Evangulov.

"It will allow them to see what an elite competition venue is like on a day-to-day basis."

Daley won his Olympic bronze medal in the 10m platform at the Aquatic Centre in 2012.

More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/diving/25107960

[Martijn]

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 26: Sun shines on the buildings as work is finalised at the newly transformed East East Village near the Olympic Stadium on November 26, 2013 in London, England. The former athletes' accommodation for the London 2012 Olympics is starting to be occupied by new owners. The East Village development will eventually contain 2818 apartments. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

Copyright © 2013 Getty Images. All rights reserved.

Residents start making homes in Olympic village

Fifteen months after the last competitor left, the first residents move into former athletes' village in Stratford

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/nov/26/olympic-village-residents-homes-stratford

[Rob2012]

New Hockey centre at Eton Manor. They can put in 18000 seats here

https://twitter.com/adrian_warner

[illustrado]

RIP flood lights that were in every conspiracy theory about the london 2012 Olympics

[illustrado]

New Hockey centre at Eton Manor. They can put in 18000 seats here

https://twitter.com/adrian_warner

i love that they kept the smurf turf

[Martijn]

New Hockey centre at Eton Manor. They can put in 18000 seats here

https://twitter.com/adrian_warner

Nice colours!

(I read last week that the olympic pitch is re-laid in Sheffield)

[DarJoLe]

SPIRIT OF 2012 TRUST LAUNCHES 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

Today marks the launch of the Spirit of 2012 Trust, an independent organisation established with a Big Lottery Fund endowment of £40 million. It has the challenging and exciting task of helping to deliver a lasting social and community legacy from the London 2012 Games.

The Spirit of 2012 Trust has four key aims:

• Harness the positive and generous volunteering spirit that was embodied by the London 2012 Gamesmakers to benefit communities across the UK.

• Build on the potential of the energy, creativity and optimism inspired by the London 2012 Games to engage groups of people into social action.

• Use local and national events as a catalyst for the creation of partnerships which will develop community activities that encourage more people to get involved in their neighbourhoods and local interest groups, whether they be choirs, or sports clubs.

• Enhance the understanding of the barriers disabled people must and do overcome in daily life, as well as in the glamorous arena of Paralympic sport, to succeed in their goals and ambitions, and by doing so to help dispel limiting perceptions and negative attitudes.

Spirit of 2012 Trust Chair Dugald Mackie, said: “2012 demonstrated that the huge energy and optimism generated by an event can be powerful. The Spirit of 2012 Trust will work through events in the future to ensure we use that power as a catalyst for positive social change and I am very proud to take a lead role in this exciting initiative."

The Spirit of 2012 Trust has been set up by the Big Lottery Fund to secure a lasting legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games for communities right across the UK, building on the successes of the summer of 2012 that went beyond sport, for example the Torch Relay and Cultural Olympiad, the Trust will work with projects across the boundaries of community sport, culture and the arts, education and volunteering.

Chair of the Big Lottery Fund Peter Ainsworth commented: “The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games caught the imagination of this country like no other event I have witnessed. The Big Lottery Fund has a vital role to play in making sure that the spirit, optimism and hope we saw in London 2012 remains alive for years to come. This was the spark that led me to pledge that the money we receive from the sale of the Olympic and Paralympic Village would go back into making that legacy a reality for communities across the UK. The launch of the Spirit of 2012 Trust today marks the start of that exciting journey and I am absolutely delighted to hand the batton on to them.”

The funding has been welcomed by Lord Coe, who said: “The Spirit of 2012 Trust now has a fantastic opportunity to capture that positivity and inspire future generations by supporting a range of exciting ideas around the UK. Just as the Games took 10 years to win, plan and deliver, so legacy must be seen as a 10-year project to realise lasting change. This funding will help deliver that lasting change.”

Nick Hurd, Cabinet Office Minister, said: “We are absolutely committed to ensuring that we build on the phenomenal success of London 2012. The Spirit of 2012 Trust will play a key role in bringing the ambitious vision of the legacy to life and in securing the long term benefits of hosting the Games.”

The Spirit of 2012 Trust is being officially launched today at a reception in the House of Lords hosted by Baroness Sue Campbell and attended by Baroness Tanni-Grey Thompson and Cabinet Office Minister Nick Hurd.

More information can be found at www.spiritof2012trust.org.uk. Contact the Trust at info@spiritof2012trust.org.uk or follow us on Twitter@So2012Trust

For all media contact Rachael Christophides, Director of Communications and Marketing at the Spirit of 2012 Trust, on 07968 194385.

NOTES TO EDITORS: SPIRIT OF 2012 TRUST

• The Spirit of 2012 Trust is a new independent trust established with £40 million of Big Lottery Fund funding and tasked with securing a lasting social and community legacy from the London 2012 Games.

• The £40 million of funding from the Fund is an endowment in advance of the refund from the sale of the Olympic and Paralympic Village.

• The Spirit of 2012 Trustees are: Dugald Mackie, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, Baroness Sue Campbell, John Gartside, Sir Nicholas Kenyon, Paul Cuttill OBE, Sir Harry Burns, David Watters and Jan Paterson. More information on the Trust and its Trustees can be found atwww.spiritof2012trust.org.uk

THE BIG LOTTERY FUND

• The Big Lottery Fund, the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.

• The Fund is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since its inception in 2004 it has awarded close to £6bn.

• The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.

• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £30 billion has now been raised and more than 400,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.

[4gamesandcounting]

This is where the Paralympic tennis centre was, you could see the concrete bowl off where they were going to put the hockey pitch during the Paralympics.

What a fantastic Union Jack design!!

[Martijn]

(animated gif)

[Rob2012]

Two new neightbourhoods to be built in next three years, one where the huge McDonalds was, one where the hockey centre was...stats and render...

The neighbourhood where the basketball arena was is close to beginning contruction too.

[illustrado]

[Rob2012]

This is new....

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/olympicopolis-multimillion-pound-cultural-hub-planned-for-olympic-park-8982657.html

'Olympicopolis': Multi-million pound cultural hub planned for Olympic Park

V&A and UCL lead rush to the East End which will create 10,000 jobs and boost economy by billions

Plans: Developers claim the Olympic Park project will deliver 10,000 jobs to the East End

PIPPA CRERAR, CITY HALL EDITOR

Published: 04 December 2013 Updated: 12:56, 04 December 2013

The Victoria & Albert museum and University College London are to build major new world class institutions on the Olympic Park, it was revealed today.

The multi-million pound ‘Olympicopolis’ project could deliver 10,000 jobs to the East End and boost the UK economy by billions of pounds.

Ambitious plans could see both facilities opening their doors to students and cultural visitors for the first time as soon as 2018.

It is hoped that the V&A and UCL are just the first of many grand organisations which will make their homes on the Stratford site.

The ‘Olympicopolis’ vision takes its inspiration from Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who used the proceeds of the 1851 Great Exhibition to create ‘Albertopolis’ - the Exhibition Road site in South Kensington that is today considered one of the world’s pre-eminent scientific, educational and cultural hubs.

Boris Johnson, whose London Legacy Development Corporation is responsible for regenerating the Olympic Park, said: “I want to raise our ambitions for this magnificent site to squeeze out every drop of potential.

“The idea behind Olympicopolis is simple and draws on the extraordinary foresight of our Victorian ancestors. We want to use Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park as a catalyst for the industries and technologies in which London now leads the world in order to create thousands of new jobs.”

The development, announced in the Chancellor’s national infrastructure plan today, could add an extra £5.2 billion to the UK economy, contributing an additional £99 million in tax revenue a year, it was claimed.

The scheme marks a shift in the Mayor’s vision for the future of the Olympic Park from a focus primarily on housing to one on jobs and growth.

Mr Osborne said: “The fantastic regeneration the Olympic Games brought to some of the poorest parts of East London must be continued. This excellent project brings together new housing with a world class university and museum and has the real prospect of creating a new centre of culture and learning in London. I am behind it 100 per cent.”

A new cultural quarter - which could eventually rival the South Bank - will be built along the River Lea waterfront close to Zaha Hadid’s aquatic centre and Stratford Tube station.

At its heart is expected to be a new off-shoot of the V&A, which the developers hope will be “edgier” than its South Kensington home, displaying modern design and major exhibitions such as its recent David Bowie extravaganza.

The V&A’s expansion would enable more of its permanent collection to be displayed, as well as providing a showcase for temporary and touring exhibitions in partnership with other leading international museums and galleries, and a centre for research and conservation.

The one kilometre stretch of waterfront would also attract other British arts institutions and feature bars, cafes and around 1000 new luxury flats which could help fund the project.

Plans to build a new academic-led quarter on a 100,000 square metre site just south of the Orbit sculpture, and adjacent to the Olympics stadium, would include a new centre for culture and heritage, a design school, a new biotech hub and an educational technology centre.

UCL, one of the top five universities in the world, already has The Bartlett, its built environment department, the Slade School of Fine Art and respected faculties of science and engineering faculties but needs room to expand.

The new Olympic Park campus, which is expected to be built in phases with the first 50,000 square metre site opening its doors within five years, could also include facilities for expanding broadcasting in education and a space for young entrepreneurs.

Mr Johnson will hold talks with all the partners in the new scheme to work out detailed business cases and funding arrangements over coming weeks.

Talks with a number of other world-renowned institutions keen to explore tie-ins with both UCL and V&A will continue in the New Year.

[Martijn]

Rob,

Do you know if the streets in this area are open to the public?

[Martijn]

Mind the gap! Hammers fans fear Olympic Stadium design flaw will ruin atmosphere

Official designs for transforming the Olympic Stadium into a football venue have left West Ham fans fearing that what appears to be a massive gap in the seating between the upper and lower tiers behind the goals will wreck the atmosphere on match days.

The official drawings released by stadium designers Populous reveal how the north and south ends of the 600million stadium, which will be West Ham’s new home from 2016, will look.

The plans appear to include a massive gap between the tiers, meaning the two blocks of seats behind the goals will be separated by more than 15 metres. While the club are understood to be comfortable with the designs, the plans would provide a stadium unlike any other.

Full Article (Daily Mail)