The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) will hand over the Olympic Village site to the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) today (Friday 27 January). The handover of the Village, on time, marks the start of the huge process to fit-out the new apartments and Village site ready to welcome athletes and officials from around the world in six months’ time.
Four times Olympic gold medallist Matthew Pinsent was on-hand to help start LOCOG’s ‘bedding in’ process helping lift in the first of more than 16,000 beds to be installed in the Village in the coming months – images can be downloaded here.
The Olympic Village will be able to house up to 16,000 thousand athletes and team officials during the Olympic Games and 6,200 thousand athletes and team officials plus 1000 referees and umpires during the Paralympic Games, all from 200 countries around the world. The fit-out and overlay work now underway to get the Village ready for the Games includes:
Installing 16,000 beds, 64,000 bed sheets and 21,000 pillows
9,000 wardrobes and more than 170,000 coat hangers
11,000 sofas, 5,000 bins and 5,000 toilet brushes
Equipping each apartment with a television and wi-fi services
Constructing the temporary 24-hour main dining facility with 5,000 seats, as well the Village Plaza Café and ‘Grab-and-go’ carts – the Village will provide the largest peacetime catering operation in the world with up to 60,000 meals served daily
Sustainably sourced food from around the world will be available including 25,000 loaves of bread, 232 tonnes of potatoes, 75,000 litres of milk and more than 330 tonnes of fruit and vegetables
Building the Olympic Village Plaza – the main ‘social hub’ of the Village with essential shops and services for athletes and guests including a café, general store, bank, beauty & grooming salon, internet lounge, London 2012 shop and entertainment centre
Constructing the Welcome Centre, the initial arrival point for athletes and officials to be officially accredited for the London 2012 Games
Installing exercise equipment to create a state-of-the art athlete gym in Chobham Academy
The ODA started work on the Village in June 2008 and has now completed the construction of 2,818 new apartments on time. The construction of the Village has included:
Building apartments for Games-time and legacy use in 11 residential plots, complete with spacious courtyards, gardens and balconies
Developing and completing the construction of a world-class education campus – the Chobham Academy – with places for 1,800 students and a state-of-the-art Polyclinic with a full range of health facilities
Landscaping work throughout the Village, which continues and will be completed in the spring
Providing work for more than 16,500 people, part of more than 46,000 who have worked on the Olympic Park and Village during construction
Making provision for removing temporary Games-time fittings in the apartments after September 2012 and ‘retro-fitting’ them with new kitchens
LOCOG Chair Seb Coe said: “Athletes are at the heart of the London 2012 Games and our plans for the Olympic Village will provide them with a home-from-home as they prepare for one of the biggest sporting moments of their lives. With the Village now handed over we are starting the huge process to install essential facilities and services ready to welcome competitors from around the world in 6 months’ time.”
ODA Chairman John Armitt said: “The Olympic Village has been built by companies from every part of the UK, working together to ensure it was completed on time and overcoming the challenges posed by the credit crunch and economic downturn. The apartments are ready but our work is not quite done. We will be finishing the landscaping as winter turns into spring, and then returning after the Games to complete the transformation to create new homes for Londoners.”
After the Games, the Village will create a legacy of 2,818 new homes across 11 individually designed plots in a new community to be known as East Village. This will offer the best of city living in one place as high-quality homes – affordable and private rented or owned - are matched with newly created parklands, public squares and some of the best transport connections in the capital.
Of the homes in the Village, 1,379 have been purchased by joint venture Triathlon Homes to provide high-quality affordable housing. The remaining 1,439 properties will become private housing after being acquired by a consortium of UK developer Delancey and the Qatari Diar real estate investment company. The consortium has also secured six adjacent future development plots with the potential for 2,000 more homes.