Olympic Site for 2012

Today we got to go on a tour of the Olympic site near Stratford in London. This morning we had a tour around the community where the Olympics are going to take place. It is a very poor area that needed a lot of revamping, which is why Stratford and the Lea River area were picked for the Olympic location. There is a regeneration opportunity for housing, jobs, training, etc. The Olympic Village (where the athletes will live) is going to be converted post-games to housing for people in the area. About 40% of that housing will be affordable housing and will be partly subsidized by the government. I think this is really great, while walking through the area of the Olympic site, it is clear that it is a much different part of London than I am used to. Most of the olympic arenas will be 'recycled' if you will to be used by the community. The Velopark and BMX circuit arena will be able to be used for local residents, as well as the gigantic basketball arena.

London's aim in the construction and execution of the Olympics is to be as sustainable as possible. They want "sustainability to underpin everything we do." They have a gray water system, where water is recycled throughout a building (so water you wash your hands with would go down the drain but then used for your toilet water before going through the sewers to be treated). The also produce energy for different heating and cooling on site so they are minimizing taking energy directly from the grid. They also have small wind turbines on site, use brown-roofs, and PV power. On all buildings they have bird and bat houses to encourage birds and bats to live there. Also, a lot of the park site is being turned into park-like areas. The north end of the site is more ecological oriented. They have built wetlands, have a pond, and it will become an ecological center. South of the site has parks that are more entertainment based: markets, pubs, hairdressers, etc.  The main focus is the main stadium which can hold 80,000 people:

It's really amazing all the work that goes into the Olympics. I guess I never really thought about all the planning, and the cost of the whole project. London's project is ending up costing 9.2 billion pounds. Hopefully it will be worth it. The Olympics, while the games are going on at least, are going to really help the London (England) economy. The amount of people riding the tube, the buses, buying food, supplies, hotels, renting houses etc will really help the area. I also never knew that the post-game plan was just as in depth as the Olympic Games themselves. On our tour, we looked at the "view tube" which was basically a map of the site with specific examples of what the olympic site will turn into post 2012. It's amazing that Stratford, WestHam, and the Lea River area will benefit from the games and hopefully be able to sustain a better living in a much better looking environment.