| 2012 Summer Olympics |
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| IOC • BOA • LOCOG |
| 2012 Summer Paralympics |
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| IPC • BPA • LOCOG |
The 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics venues are mostly located in the host city of London, though some other events require facilities located elsewhere. Since the successful bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Paralympics, some details have changed, with ongoing developments and announcements taking place.
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The 2012 Games will use a mixture of newly built venues, existing facilities, and temporary facilities, some of them in well known locations such as Hyde Park and Horse Guards Parade. In the wake of the problems that plagued the Millennium Dome, the intention is that there will be no white elephants after the games. Some of the new facilities will be reused in their Olympic form, while others will be reduced in size and several will be relocated elsewhere in the UK. The plans will contribute to the regeneration of Stratford in east London which will be the site of the Olympic Park, and of the neighbouring Lower Lea Valley.
The majority of venues have been divided into three zones within Greater London: the Olympic Zone, the River Zone and the Central Zone. In addition to these are those venues that, by necessity, are outside the boundaries of Greater London.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) noted that at the time of the bid further negotiations were necessary to ensure the use of the Old Trafford and Villa Park football stadia. The need for compulsory purchase orders was also highlighted as a possible problem for the Olympic Park, but did not expect this to cause any "undue delay to construction schedules".
The Olympic Zone will encompass all of the facilities within the 500 acre (2 km²) Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford. This park is being developed on existing waste and industrial land, at grid reference TQ379849, and will be seven minutes by Olympic Javelin train from central London. The park will contain:
| Venue | Sports | Capacity | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olympics | Paralympics | |||
| Aquatics Centre | Diving, Modern pentathlon (swimming), Swimming, Synchronized swimming | Swimming | 17,500 | [1][2] |
| Basketball Arena | Basketball, Handball (medal round) | Wheelchair rugby, Wheelchair basketball | 12,000 (OG) 10,000 (PG) |
[2][3] |
| BMX Circuit | Cycling (BMX) | — | 6,000 (temporary) | [4] |
| Eton Manor | — | Wheelchair tennis | 10,500 | [2][5] |
| Handball Arena | Fencing, Handball, Modern pentathlon (fencing) | Goalball | 7,000 | [2][6] |
| London Velodrome | Cycling (track) | Cycling (track) | 6,000 | [2][7] |
| Olympic Hockey Centre | Field hockey | Football seven-a-side, Football five-a-side | 16,000 | [2][8] |
| Olympic Stadium | Athletics, Ceremonies (opening/ closing) | Athletics, Ceremonies (opening/ closing) | 80,000 | [2][9] |
| Water Polo Arena | Water polo | — | 5,000 | [2][10] |
The original plan called for the construction of five new indoor arenas, four in the Olympic Park, and one in the River Zone (see below). In order to save money this was reduced to two. The existing venues at Earls Court and Wembley Arena were added to the plans (see Central Zone below), and various sports were shuffled around to make this possible.
The construction of the Olympic Park itself commenced in 2006, with Murphy Group awarded the contract to remove the powerlines which crossed the site and relocate these into a tunnel to be dug beneath the site. Civil engineering companies Morrisons and Nuttalls were appointed to undertake the demolition and land remediation works, under the project management of WS Atkins. The pace of this speeded up with the closure of the roads crossing the Olympic Park in June 2007. The construction phase of the Olympic Park is being managed by CLM, a consortium comprising CH2M Hill, Laing O'Rourke and Mace. This consortium is officially titled Delivery Partner, ODA. The earliest construction of venues commenced in April 2008 with the start of the main build on the Olympic Stadium by McAlpine, with the nearby energy centre to be constructed by EDF Energy. Work on the Aquatics Centre began later the same year. During the construction phase the workforce on-site is expected to peak at 9,000 operatives.
The River Zone will feature four main venues in the Thames Gateway area straddling the River Thames:
| Venue | Sports | Capacity | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olympics | Paralympics | |||
| ExCeL | Boxing, Fencing, Judo, Table tennis, Taekwondo, Weightlifting, Wrestling | Boccia, Judo, Powerlifting, Table tennis, Volleyball (sitting), Wheelchair fencing | from 5,000 to 10,000 | [2][11] |
| Greenwich Park | Equestrian, Modern pentathlon (riding, running) | Equestrian | 23,000 (OG) 6,000 (PG) |
[2][12] |
| North Greenwich Arena (The O2 arena) | Basketball (final), Gymnastics (artistic, trampolining) | Wheelchair basketball | 20,000 (OG) 18,000 (PG) |
[2][13] |
| Royal Artillery Barracks | Modern pentathlon (shooting), Shooting | Archery, Shooting | 7,500 (OG) 5,000 (PG) |
[2][14] |
In the initial plan for the River Zone, a temporary 6,000 seat capacity facility to be called North Greenwich Arena 2 was to have been built alongside the O2 to host the badminton and rhythmic gymnastics events. However, the cost led to alternatives being suggested, eventually leading to the cancellation of the arena and the transfer of its planned events to Wembley Arena instead.[15]
The Central Zone will be formed out of all the remaining venues within Greater London. They are quite widely spread across central and west London:
| Venue | Sports | Capacity | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olympics | Paralympics | |||
| All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club | Tennis | — | 30,000 | [16] |
| Earls Court Exhibition Centre | Volleyball (indoor) | — | 15,000 | [17] |
| Horse Guards Parade | Volleyball (beach) | — | 15,000. | [18] |
| Hyde Park | Swimming (marathon), Triathlon | — | 3,000. | [19] |
| Lord's Cricket Ground | Archery | — | 6,500 (temporary) | [19] |
| Marathon Course | Athletics (marathon) | — | Not listed. | [20] |
| Regent's Park | Cycling (road) | – | Not listed. | [2][21] |
| Wembley Arena | Badminton, Gymnastics (rhythmic) | — | 6,000 | [22] |
| Wembley Stadium | Football (final) | — | 90,000 | [23] |
Four of the venues will be outside Greater London:
| Venue | Sports | Capacity | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olympics | Paralympics | |||
| Brands Hatch | — | Road Cycling | [24] | |
| Dorney Lake | Canoeing (sprint), Rowing | Rowing | 30,000 maximum (OG) 6,000 (PG) |
[2][25] |
| Hadleigh Farm | Cycling (mountain biking) | — | 20,000 (includes 3,000 seating) | [26] |
| Lee Valley White Water Centre | Canoeing (slalom) | — | 12,000 maximum | [27] |
| Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy | Sailing | Sailing | 17,400 (PG) | [2][28] |
The earlier stages of the Olympic football competition will be played at football stadia around the United Kingdom shown in the table below. As stated above, the Football final will be at the 90,000 seat Wembley Stadium:
| Venue | Sports | Capacity | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Coventry Stadium (Ricoh Arena) (Coventry) | Football | 32,500 | [29] |
| Hampden Park (Glasgow) | Football | 52,000 | [30] |
| Millennium Stadium (Cardiff) | Football | 74,600 | [31] |
| Old Trafford (Manchester) | Football | 76,000 | [32] |
| Sports Direct Arena (St James' Park) (Newcastle upon Tyne) | Football | 52,000 | [33] |
Difficulties experienced by developers Lend Lease[34] in raising funds for the village (the single largest project in the 2012 scheme) resulted in the scale of the village being reduced by "almost 25%".[35] This was achieved predominantly by providing accommodation for London-based athletes only. Those competing in events outside London were to be housed elsewhere. Following the athletes' experiences in Beijing 2008 (and in particular through comments concerning athletes' welfare by International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge) this compromise was to be reconsidered whilst pressure built for the finance deal to be resolved.[36]
Public transport, an aspect of the bid which scored poorly in the IOC's initial evaluation, will see numerous improvements, including the expansion of the East London Line, upgrades to the Docklands Light Railway and the North London Line, and the new "Olympic Javelin" service. It is almost impossible to assess how many of the proposed improvements would have happened in any case. The games were won without a commitment to deliver Crossrail by 2012. This is the largest transport project proposed for London, and it was widely assumed in the early stages of the bidding process that the games could not be won without a guarantee that it would be completed before the games.
During the games 80% of athletes will be within 20 minutes of their events and 97% will be within 30 minutes of their events. Together, all the planned National Rail, light rail, and underground services (excluding Crossrail) are expected to deliver around 240 trains every hour.[37]
Regent's Park was planned to host the softball and baseball events, but the IOC chose not to run those events.
Windsor Park in Belfast, Northern Ireland, was included as a football venue in the IOC questionnaire submitted in 2004, but excluded in the final candidature file.
On 7 June 2006, a revised masterplan for the Olympic Park was announced. The most significant change was the relocation of the volleyball events from a new Olympic Arena to the existing venue of Earls Court, which is several miles to the west. The revision also involved the re-organisation of the park shuffling the Basketball, Cycling, Fencing, Tennis and Hockey venues in addition to the Press and Broadcast Centre. This move was designed to remove the need for the relocation of 80 businesses and to provide a more coherent legacy for the sporting venues.
At least two of the venues to be developed outside central London have been relocated from the original bid sites. The Broxbourne canoe venue was marginally re-sited following the discovery (in October 2007) that the proposed Spitalbrook site was contaminated,[38] while in February 2008 the Weald Country Park was deemed insufficiently challenging for elite mountain biking. It was announced in August 2008 that the revised venue would be at Hadleigh Farm, also in Essex.
In August 2009, Villa Park was withdrawn from the list of venues for the football competition, due to uncertainty over Aston Villa's redevelopment plans for the stadium.[39]
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