Olympic and Paralympic parks and venues!

By Lottie Leanne and Josh

Designed by architect Zaha Hadid, the breath-taking Aquatics Centre is one of the permanent venues specially constructed for London 2012.

With a capacity of 17,500, the Aquatics Centre’s spectacular wave-like roof is 160m long and up to 80m wide – giving it a longer single span than Heathrow Terminal 5.

Construction on the venue began in July 2008 and was completed in July 2011.

Work began on the inside of the venue once the roof was in position. The three pools were dug out, lined, filled with water and tested, before they were fitted with more than 180,000 tiles.

Aquatic stadium

The venue’s frame is made up of 1,000 tonnes of steel and is covered in 20,000 square metres of a recyclable white PVC fabric that will form the canvas for spectacular lighting displays during the Games. Initial works started on the Basketball Arena in October 2009, and construction was completed on time and within budget in June 2011 – making it one of the quickest Olympic Park venues to be constructed.

The arena’s giant frame was set up in less than three months during spring 2010. Initial works started on the initial works started on the Basketball Arena in October 2009, and construction was completed on time and within budget in June 2011 – making it one of the quickest Olympic Park venues to be constructed.

basketball Arena in October 2009, and construction was completed on time and within budget in June 2011 – making it one of the quickest Olympic Park venues to be constructed.

Basketball Arena

The venue features a 50m competition pool, a 25m competition diving pool, a 50m warm-up pool and a ‘dry’ warm-up area for divers. The Water Polo competition is being hosted next door in the temporary Water Polo Arena. The venue’s roof proved to be one of the most complex engineering challenges of the Olympic Park big build.

Aquatic stadium information

Around 14,000 cubic metres of soil were used to build the BMX Track. This soil was excavated elsewhere on the Olympic Park site, cleaned then reused to create a series of levels up to four metres high, on which the final track was formed.

An internationally-renowned BMX track designer helped to create a fast and challenging course, which features an eight-metre high ramp at the start, followed by jumps, bumps and tightly banked corners.

BMX Track!

With a span of 315 metres, Wembley arch is the longest single span roof structure in the world and is visible from across London.

Wembley Stadium opened in 2007 on the site of the old 1923 stadium.

A truly iconic British building, the new stadium comes complete with a sliding roof to protect against bad weather.

Wembley arena!

St James' Park was built in the 19th century. Since then, it has undergone various major redevelopment and modernization projects.

Little preparation is required to ready St James’ Park for the six matches it will host in the London 2012 Olympic Football tournament.

St James park

By Lottie Leanne and Josh!

Thanks for watching parks and values for the Olympics, we hope

you learnt something!