Where are we up to with preparations for the London 2012 venues?

2010 is a major year in terms of the planning and delivery of all our venues. As you’ll read in the blogs by other members of my team, our main priorities are:

• The detailed design of each venue, and how all aspects fit together. We completed schematic design in December 2009 and are now rapidly progressing through detailed design.
• Venue operational planning has really progressed – we have completed the process on eight venues so far, with the rest to follow this year and in early 2011.
• Buying all the equipment we need to kit out our venues – and we need a lot of it!
• Town planning – getting legal permission to do any work required to turn our temporary venues into competition venues in 2012.
• Planning for a fantastic spectator experience – crucial to a successful Games.

We’re making lots of progress elsewhere too. On the Olympic Park, we are putting together an integrated LOCOG and Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) team to operate all the venues and manage them from early next year, when handover of the Park venues will begin, up until Games time.

The Olympic Park is obviously the focus of the main building activity and we are very excited and proud to see all the venues taking shape now, and how everything is being delivered on time and to budget.

As well as all the hard work happening on the Park, we are working closely with the ODA on what is called the ‘common domain’. This is the public space outside the stadia that we want to be a relaxing and enjoyable place where people can soak up the atmosphere. We are working on the landscaping of the Park and the layout of all the facilities, such as catering, merchandising and entertainment areas. This is a really important piece of work which will also enhance the spectator experience.

A lot of progress has also been made on our Olympic Village and satellite Villages, where the athletes will stay. We’ll have three in total. The biggest is the Village in the Olympic Park, which will accommodate 17,000 athletes and officials.

There is also one in Weymouth and Portland for our sailors. We have recently partnered with a local development where 77 new low-carbon houses are being built at Officer’s Field on Osprey Quay in Portland. The last Village is at Royal Holloway, University of London in Egham, which will accommodate the rowers and canoeists competing at Eton Dorney.

We have always said that athletes will be at the heart of the Games, and it is important that athletes have comfortable living quarters to help them prepare for the biggest sporting event of their lives.

Finally, we are also pleased to have finished equipping our Technology HQ, which is now up and running at Canary Wharf. All Games-time information will be managed here – including timing, scoring and results.

We have also acquired our logistics centres in Tilbury and Stevenage, providing around one million square metres of warehouse space for managing and processing all the supplies and equipment needed for the Games.

So this year is shaping up to be a very busy year! I thank you all for your support in helping us get ready for a world-class Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012.

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