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Olympic village unveiled as £2bn legacy for London
Matthew Beard, Evening Standard24.09.07
Olympics chiefs today unveiled their £2billion athletes' village as they begin a public consultation on one of the major 2012 building projects.
Designs show how the village in Stratford will look during the Games and afterwards. The village - the central hub of the Games - will accommodate 17,000 athletes and officials during the Olympics and 6,500 during the Paralympics.
Afterwards, the buildings will be converted into 3,800 homes and Games chiefs have pledged that 30 per cent will be affordable housing - ranging from apartments to maisonettes and mews houses.
The legacy of the village will also include an education campus providing 120 nursery places, 840 primary places and 900 secondary places.
The Olympic Delivery Authority promises a 2,800 square metre primary healthcare centre - the legacy of the 2012 athletes' healthcare facilities. Improved transport links include a new DLR station and bus routes, plus more than 10 hectares of parks and open spaces. One of its most prominent features is a series of cascading ponds which run through the heart of the scheme.
Amid fears that athletes would be forced to live in high-rise accommodation, Games chiefs have renewed a promise that no competitor will live above the eighth floor of the village. In previous Games athletes have complained that their performances have been adversely affected by having to traipse up stairs or wait for lifts.
Developer Lend Lease aims to begin construction work in the middle of next year. On-site activity began this month with preparatory earthworks and Lend Lease has also assembled a panel of 47 UK and international architectural practices to design the village.
Public consultation will begin today with exhibitions of the plans in and around Stratford to give people the opportunity to view the scheme, which is built on previously inaccessible rail land.
The ODA says it is the "missing piece in the east London jigsaw" and will reconnect communities in Hackney, Waltham Forest, Stratford and Leyton.
The Olympic Village forms part of the larger Stratford City development which will provide a new town centre.
ODA chief executive David Higgins said: "The 2012 Games are about more than just a summer of sport, they are a catalyst for much wider regeneration. I welcome these exciting plans for a new legacy community in the heart of east London.
"These plans for new homes, schools, healthcare and multi-use community facilities, all on the doorstep of one of the largest new urban parks in Europe for 150 years, will ensure that the legacy of 2012 lives on for generations."
