London 2012 blog

I am the Director for Infrastructure and Utilities for the Olympic Delivery Authority, who are responsible for developing and building the new venues for the London 2012 Games and their use afterwards. I am in Beijing on a fact finding trip. It has proved to be enormously useful. This week there have been a number of test events held in the venues and the Beijing 2008 Organising Committee (BOCOG) have gone out of their way to give us 'access all areas' so we can learn as much as possible.

I have been focussing particularly on what it means to be venue ready for the Olympic and Paralympic Games - for example the power needs, the systems integration and the particular media requirements. We want to ensure that we design in as much as we can at the earliest stage for the London 2012 venues to meeting LOCOG's Games-time needs. 

Yesterday we went to the Aquatics Centre, or the 'Water Cube' as it is known. It is a stunning building that will be a great stage for the Games. The outside is made of ETFE - a manmade film - and its translucent nature makes it a stunning sight at night. With our fantastic design for the London 2012 venues, Aquatics is clearly at the cutting edge of architectural design.

The Beijing 2008 Aquatics Centre - the 'Water Cube':



You cannot fail to be impressed by the attention to detail and planning that are going into the Beijing 2008 Games. They will be a great success. It also reinforces just how exciting it will be to be living in the UK in 2012 when we host the greatest show on earth, and afterwards when the community are left with the fantastic venues.