London Olympic Stadium

The Olympic Stadium, in Olympic Park, Stratford, London, England is designed to be the centrepiece of the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Paralympics, the last stop in the torch relay, and the venue of the athletic events as well as the Olympic Games' opening and closing ceremonies.

It is located at Marshgate Lane in London's Stratford district in the Lower Lea Valley. The stadium has an 80,000 capacity making it the third-largest stadium in England behind Wembley Stadium and Twickenham Stadium.
 
Land preparation for the stadium began in mid-2007, with the official construction start date on 22 May 2008, although piling works for the foundation unofficially began four weeks ahead of that date. The stadium was chosen to host the 2017 World Championships in Athletics.


Development process

On 13 October 2006, LOCOG confirmed that it had selected the Team Stadium consortium (consisting of Sir Robert McAlpine; HOK Sport + Venue + Event, now known as Populous; and Buro Happold) to start negotiations with, in hope to find the contractor fulfilling the eventual design and build contract of the new Olympic Stadium.


The ODA received international and national interest to prequalify for the design and construction tender but Team Stadium was the only consortium to meet all prequalification criteria. The consortium was also the team who delivered the locally acclaimed new Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal F.C. Team Stadium members have extensive experience in the design and build of sports venues, including the Olympic Stadium for the 2000 Sydney Games.

On 11 October 2011, Britain's Olympics minister Hugh Robertson confirmed the collapse of the Olympic Park Legacy Company's (OPLC) agreement with West Ham to take over the stadium after the games. The OPLC announced that negotiations with West Ham, unveiled as the preferred stadium bidder in February 2011, had ended because of growing concerns over delays caused by the ongoing legal dispute with rival club Tottenham Hotspur. West Ham had not signed any contracts, allowing the OPLC to abandon talks with the club. The stadium, which cost an estimated £486 million, will now remain in public ownership and leased out to an anchor tenant following a new tender process.


Structures and facilities


Exploded view of the stadium's layers

The stadium design was launched on 7 November 2007. The architect, Populous, is an architectural firm specialising in the design of sports facilities and convention centres, as well as planning of major special events.

 Construction took four years from 2007 to 2011.
As of June 2009, the stadium's track and field arena has been excavated out of the soft clay found on the site, around which permanent seating for 25,000 had been assembled, using concrete "rakers". The natural slope of the land is incorporated into the design, with warm-up and changing areas being dug into a semi-basement position at the lower end. A demountable lightweight steel and concrete upper tier has been built up from this "bowl" to accommodate a further 55,000 spectators, and was nearing completion.