The Athletes’ Village is one of the 7 venues located within the Olympic park.
This is a place for the athletes and officials to stay during the London 2012 Games. It is in walking distance of all the venues on the Olympic Park.
Colin Jackson, Olympian and sports commentator said:
“The Village is the heart and soul of everything, where you rest your head at night and it’s a vital part of your preparation. You need to come back to a place that you feel comfortable, where you feel there’s a sense of belonging and I think London has certainly managed to get that right for 2012.”
What’s there?
The planners aimed to provide everything the 23,000 athletes and officials might need to relax and feel at home. This includes residential apartments along with shops, restaurants, medical, media and leisure facilities and large areas of open space.
Design features
The Village meets standards both for the Olympic and Paralympic Games and will also provide new homes that are built sustainably.
The traditional London style of building homes around an open space or a square which can be enjoyed by everyone has been used.
Athletes will have wonderful views over the Park. Their apartments will have Internet access and wireless networking. All the apartment blocks will be fully accessible and equipped with modern lifts.
The apartments have large balconies, winter gardens and floor to ceiling windows, making the most of the natural light and giving views across the open spaces.
Problem solving
The Village site had no water or electricity to connect into so these had to be installed right at the beginning.
The site was surrounded by water with a rail line going through the middle. The track was routed through a tunnel so that building could take place on top.
What was here before?
The site of the Village is on ground above a disused rail goods yard. A huge amount of demolition and decontamination of the land had to take place before construction could begin.
After the Games
The Village provides 2,818 new homes for East London and there are also plots for future developments which will provide even more housing. Triathlon Homes has purchased 1,379 of these which will become available as affordable homes. An education campus and a medical centre were also built by the ODA.
Watch this:
Beds for athletes, homes for Londoners – about the Athletes’ Village
Athletes’ Village update – footage from 2009 which outlines the scope of the Olympic Village
A few more number crunching facts…
After the Games, 1,800 students of all ages will attend the education campus built by the ODA. The total budget of the Athletes’ Village is £1,095 million. The new homes will be supported by new facilities including more than 10 hectares of new parks, open space, public squares and tree-lined streets.
