Olympic Park 2012

Since the last post, I’ve been thinking how sometime just going for a wander is the best way to enjoy a city. Like any major city London has its dodgy corners, but on the whole it is a safe place. I’d encourage everyone coming to the Olympics to get out there and explore East London for themselves.

If you want to plan a little in advance, you could browse this fantastic website – East London’s Free Art & History Show – by the late Lawrence Rigal (formerly Rabbi of the Stepney Settlement in East London, social historian, youth club leader, author on Liberal Judaism, photographer and wine maker). It has maps for each district with descriptions of the interesting historical points and it is really easy to navigate back and for between the area map and the descriptions. Bow, Stratford, Popular, Limehouse and all the other sites around the Olympic Park are all included.

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Street Market Walks: Walking tours of local markets, some of which might not be around much longer if new developments happen. Designed by Sandra Shevey a former biographer (John Lennon etc.) turns her hand to giving a flavour of local oral history & neighbourhood identity.

Murder Mystery: A spooky evening walk build around the east end serial killer of the late 1800s. Tours are guided by a crime historian Donald Rumbelow and part of ‘London Walks’ one of the larger walking tours company.

Radical History: Tours by a local east-end historian David Rosenberg with an anti-fascist focus. He brings out the melting pot and social revolutionary history of this side of London.

I’ll keep my eyes out for more…

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With the introduction of ‘Localism’ there may be further changes to the governance of this Olympic Park site. After games time it could be that a ‘Mayoral Development Corporation’ would become responsible for the rates and development permissions in the area. The UK’s professional planning institution the RTPI was focusing on the park recently with an event in Stratford and one of the presentations suggested this may well happen. Dawn Hawthorn from the GLA talked about the next steps and the changes in terms of planning processes if this was to happen.

I have borrowed this image from the RTPI’s own London Calling blog.  Quite an interesting site in itself, to keep an eye on for changes and challenges about development and related social issues in London.

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A BBC report on the progress of the Olympic venue developments, featuring an interview with the ever lovely Seb Coe, brings home a sensation of how close the Games are getting. Watching another video demo of the slalom water race course on the river lee gives a feel for the thrill of the action…now if only I could have a go on that kayak!

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Local daily paper, The Evening Standard, has taken to covering the Olympic development in practically every issue, not surprising given the size and costs of the venture. There are also weighty expectations on the project to deliver benefits of “regeneration” to this part of town, which has some of the lowest socio-economic indices in the UK and suffered WWII bombings.

Yesterday’s article on on the Fish Island and Hackney Wick areas which border the Olympic park describes the ‘other side’ to this story – the existing wealth and culture of the localities. It describes the art community and existing architectural legacy which can be built on and enhanced with by the Olympic project.

The question is what future for the olympic fringes and this article suggests they should look to other examples of thriving artists quarters such as Shoreditch. The area sits between Victoria Park and the Olympic Village – see the maps in the Tower Hamlets Masterplan document

This particular part of the east end contains many historic buildings from past times when the area was the heart of industrial development, such as the Bryant & May Match factory pictured above, with the Docklands Financial District in the background. The factory was famous for the invention of the safety match and the first working girls strike, which Annie Besant helped promote, and is now converted into flats. The area was mainly served by canals, which are still green and beautiful as you can see in the photos in this blog, but not used for transport so much anymore.

Here are some photos of the area, taken late last year

Looking north up the canal running east of Hackney Wick

Fish Island Area August 2009

Canal around Fish Island and Hackney Wick August 2009

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On a park tour at the end of 2009, I took the following shot of the frame of the velodrome, which looks a bit like a roller coaster.

Olympic 2012 Velodrome

It will be part of the Olympic Velopark containing track cycling for Para-Olympians and Olympians plus BMX cycling facilities. Situated at the north end of the site where the former Eastway circuit used to be, this building will have an unusual shape and a lot to live up to. Former Eastway track users have left a lot of skin on the site since 1975 when it was first built:

“Eastway is used, on a regular basis for Road Racing, Time Trials, Cyclo Cross, Mountain Bike Racing, B M X Racing, Duathlon events, Road Running, Cross Country Running, Roller Blade & Roller Skating and the occasional Sponsored ride. Sometimes if the winter weather is bad and we have enough snow, Cross Country Skiing is possible at the circuit.”

Having said that, a ‘temporary alternative’ for former Eastway circuit users has been provided at Hog Hill just off the A12 north east London (one of two alternatives, the other being Rammy Marsh in Enfield). There was a “bit of a wait” between the closure of the original circuit in 2006 and the opening of the “Redbridge Circuit“  in August of 2008. This is a boon for Redbridge Borough with the £4.5 million new facility and cyclists are taking to it and sharing the experience (see preview thanks JayCut!) although a bit unhappy to be charged for the pleasure.

And this is what the ODA says about the Legacy:

“The temporary seating for the BMX Circuit will be removed and the track reconfigured. A new mountain bike course and road cycle circuit will be added to create a VeloPark for the local community, sports clubs and elite athletes.

Outreach and sports development programmes will help ensure the new cycling ‘hub’ is suitable for all levels of ability. The facility will be owned, funded and run by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority.”

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Two new media facilities, costing £355 from the ODA budget, are emerging. International broadcasts of the Olympic games in 2012 will come from the 60,000 m2 new International Broadcast Centre (IBC) onsite in the 2012 park. The shots below of the IBC were taken during a bus tour of the park and the venue is seen through a metal fence and the bus window.

International Press Centre

International Press Centre

The venue has been designed for games time and legacy facilities. It will contain studio space and offices over 2 floors and these can be converted into smaller units after the Olympic events, in the hope that various media companies might set up some operations in East London longer term.

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British cyclist Paul Manning, Gold medallist in the Team Pursuit at the Beijing 2008 Games, visited the site of the new velodrome in East London this week. He seems enthusiastic and the legacy facilities for cycling make me pretty excited too. The veldrome stadium is a 600o seater (see it coming up at this webcam Velodrome WebCam from ODA) and there will be a BMX track next to it.

This is essentially a public venture with the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority (LVRPA) at the head and providing funding together with Sport England, Transport for London (TfL), and the London Marathon Charitable Trust (LMCT). The ODA says that after games time, “a road cycle circuit and mountain bike course will be added to the Velodrome and BMX circuit to create a legacy VeloPark that will combine cycling facilities across all disciplines in one cycling ‘hub’”.

This is a real boost for a sport which we are OK at, but the expectation is that it will also be a classic venue anyway! The London Cycling Campaign reckons this should have been built with or without the Olympics and London Cycle Sport cites the success of the Manchester Velodrome.

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How long does it take to get to Stratford from St Pancras in central London? Right now the answer is 26 minutes (or 38 minutes on the weekend due to ‘planned engineering works’ see TLF for details), but in 2012 the Olympic Shuttle will take only 7 minutes. In fact in the trial of the new ‘Javelin’ service this week, the time achieved was only 6 minutes and 45 seconds.

New Train for Olympic 2012 passengers from Kings Cross St Pancras - Stratford

This will be an important piece in the East London transport network, when is comes to games time. The ODA is aspiring to encourage use of public transport – in fact it would be impossible for all spectators to come by car – witness the gridlock at the Blackwall tunnel at rush hour. Capacity at Stratford station will be trebled, new Dockland Light Rail (DLR) tunnels are being added, there will be a new ticket hall at Kings Cross, a new DLR platform at Stratford, a direct link from City Airport to Stratford, to name but a few improvements. Overall this part of East London will be far better connected in three years.

Olympic 2012 Stadium in 2009 - constuction workers form 3 for 3 years to go!

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Work has begun on the last of the major permanent structures. The Handball Arena will be used for Basketball, Wheelchair Basketball, Boxing, Handball, Badminton, Judo, Netball, Futsal (5-a-side indoor football) and Volleyball.

With (recycled) copper cladding and glazing for a view into the action, I think this building will look distinctive despite the regular shape. It will be sited a little north of the Stadium, and you can see how it will look in this picture from the ODA. The design includes taking natural light and rain water through pipes into the building for use in the facility.

As a legacy venue it should be a flexible space, according to Peter Rogers (CE of the London Development Agency) “With the equivalent space of 12 badminton courts and retractable seating, the venue has been designed for all levels of sports participation and has the potential to accommodate cultural, entertainment and business events.” The promise is also that it will include a health and fitness club with changing facilities and a café for the local public.

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