Race begins to fit-out Olympic venues

 

13 January 2012

Internal fit-out has started in earnest at the main Olympic venues now that all the buildings have been handed over to the Games organising committee.

With under 200 days to the opening ceremony on 27 July, the buildings are being turned into operational venues ready to handle several test events, a spokesperson for LOCOG – the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games – told FM World.

LOCOG has worked closely with the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), which has been responsible for the planning and construction of venues and infrastructure.

“But it’s now the final stretch to the Games themselves, even though it will be a hard stretch,” the LOCOG spokesman said.

“There’s still a lot of work to be done inside the buildings, everything from putting up curtains in meeting rooms to installing main timing boards and event equipment. The International Broadcast Centre still has to be fitted out for the media.”

The Games will also make use of many other existing venues, including Wembley Stadium, Wembley Arena, Wimbledon All England Club, Lord's Cricket Ground, The O2 Arena, Earls Court Exhibition Centre, Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy and the Excel Centre in London.

LOCOG is now responsible for the buildings until the end of the main Games on 12 August and that of the Paralympics which run between 29 August and 9 September.

After the Games, LOCOG will “pass on the torch”, the spokesman said, to the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) which is ensuring the buildings remain in use and are a benefit to society, in particular local communities.

This week OPLC appointed Balfour Beatty WorkPlace to run the ArcelorMittal Orbit attraction and Greenwich Leisure to operate the Aquatics Centre and Multi-Use Arena on the east London site.

The appointments mean that all permanent Olympic venues have had their future secured after the games, except for the Main Stadium and Broadcast Centre.

The Main Stadium’s future depends on who takes it over, said the spokesman. A tender for an occupier has been re-issued after a technical wrangle over the previous tender.

The Broadcast Centre is more suited for use as office space after the Games rather than conversion into apartments, he said.

The other sites that have had their futures secured are the Athletes Village, the Velodrome and Eton Manor – to be known as the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centres.

 Lee Valley Regional Park Authority will own and operate the VeloPark and the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centres after the Games.



The Athletes Village has been sold by the Olympic Delivery Authority. Ownership is now 50 per cent by Qatari Diar and Delancey for private housing and 50 per cent by Triatholon Homes for affordable housing.

London won the bid to host the Games in a deciding vote in Singapore in July 2005, defeating Moscow, New York, Madrid and Paris.

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