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Mud bowl turning into 2012 stadium
Matthew Beard, Evening Standard19.03.08
This is the 2012 Olympic stadium beginning to take shape.
The bird's eye view of the Games site near Stratford shows excavators clearing soil to reveal an outline of the building's bowl.
About 800,000 tonnes of soil have been removed from the former industrial area and workers have dug down almost 30 feet.
The stadium is on an "island" site flanked by the River Lea to the east and the City Mill River.
Contractors Sir Robert McAlpine and architects HOK Sport have erected offices - the cluster of green containers in the centre of the picture - on what will be the field of play in 2012. The Thornton's Field railway sidings to the north-east of the stadium will be relocated to make way for a logistics centre.
Olympic chiefs are negotiating with several sports clubs which may become tenants after the Games, when the 80,000 venue will be reduced in capacity to 25,000. To simplify the conversion, facilities such as lavatories and restaurants will be housed in temporary "pods" surrounding the venue.
Piling work is due to begin ahead of schedule in May and the "Big Build" phase in autumn next year.
Reader views (2)
Of all the things to be miserable about the Olympics, Jacqueline, the one you raise is perhaps the least important. In this respect, at least, I think you should cheer up!
- Brian Armitage, London, UK
Where's the view of London Transport with extra people trying to move around London?! What a mess...
- Jacqueline, Hampstead, London
