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First picture of £105m cycling park that was a rubbish dump
Matthew Beard, Sports News Correspondent25 Feb 2009
THESE are the first images of the £105million Olympic cycling scheme that will remain for Londoners after the 2012 Games.
The VeloPark, including an indoor arena, BMX course and off-road trails, represents a remarkable transformation of the site, built on a former council rubbish dump next to the A12 in Leyton.
Click on the graphic below to see a bigger version of the image:
Venues were shifted a few metres to the west to enable easier conversion after the Games but this led to earth contamination and costs soared by £25million to £105million.
The Olympic Delivery Authority has worked with track designer Ron Webb to overcome challenges.
An ODA spokesperson said: "The velodrome is a striking piece of architecture and a complex structure that is being built on ground conditions that are among the most challenging in the Olympic Park site.
"Detailed design work has been carried out to meet these challenges and to ensure we can also deliver wider cycling facilities on the site in legacy. With construction work due to begin on site next month, we are on track to deliver a world-class cycling legacy for London."
Reader views (9)
Typical British development - facilities for thousands, 150 car parking spaces. How exactly are all these people supposed to get their Bikes there? There are precious few trains available an no bikes on the tube.
- Jon, london,England, 12/03/2009 12:17
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Maybe in the paralell universe that you live in,Steve,London is a dump,but let me inform you that this is the real world,and you are unaware that you are living in a great city.The 100,000 new inhabitants of Stratford and the rest of East London will have a great new set of resources.
- H.J.Jones, London UK, 02/03/2009 18:47
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First picture of £105m cycling park that was a rubbish dump - and will be again- shortly after the olympics
- Victor The Red, london, 26/02/2009 13:41
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Artist impression Pictures are like POLITICAL promises. Colourful and pretty!!
- A Winsley, London, 25/02/2009 18:07
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Build them in time for what, Adrian? They can't build them in NO time. It will take SOME time. But they'll be finished IN time for the Olympics. Which last 3 weeks. And then the "so-called local residents" - whatever that's supposed to mean - will be able to use them - like people in Manchester use the Commonwealth Games velodrome. Quite probably the busiest track in the world.
Is there no end to Londoners' ability to moan about how ridiculously well served they are by facilities of all kinds?
- Trackcycling, London, 25/02/2009 17:31
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Clever how Ken and the ODA dove-tailed the cost of building an Olympic site with the cost of de-contaminating east of east London land so "no one would notice". And how much will it cost residents to use this cycle paradise, assuming they can cross the A12 on their bike to get to it? Is this going to be an open park or another premium sports experience?
- Bloke, London, 25/02/2009 14:18
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That sweeping cycling superhighway you can see coming off Hackney Marshes isn't actually there yet, it looks like what is now a slip road for Olympic Park traffic will also become an entrance to the north of the park, opening up the park to people coming from the north. For those of us who remember the area off Waterden Road before work started, this is tremendously exciting, the biggest urban regeneration scheme in Europe, unless Kings Cross has overtaken. The area used to be a toilet, breaker's yards, fridge mountains, a grubby, fly-tipped mess.
- Stan Marbles, E11, 25/02/2009 13:59
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Shame they can't build these in time, so the so called local residents can use the facilities.
- Adrian, london, 25/02/2009 13:52
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London is a rubbish dump!
- Steve, London, 25/02/2009 12:02
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