Last week I went with the Planning Committee for a tour of the Olympic Park to see what progress was being made. It was good to see that it looked quite different from the last time we were there - most of the soil has been sorted and washed and a number of the buildings are beginning to take shape.

Inside the Olympic Stadium:

We started off at the Olympic Stadium site, which already looks like a Stadium! We had a tour of the Stadium podium (ground level, where the permenant seating is), but didn’t have much time to practise our shot put before we had to get on the bus down to the Energy Centre which is also taking shape, with a steel frame for the building and its chimney flue already in place.

The Energy Centre:



Before too long we were back on the bus for a tour of the northern part of site, pausing at the land that has been prepared for the Velodrome and Basketball Arena then moving quickly on for a passing view of progress on the Olympic Village as well as two of the bridges in the Olympic Park.

Our tour passed on to the Aquatics Centre viewing platform – very impressive and exciting! Our last stop was to view a range of sample materials. The Committee has spent many hours in Stratford Old Town Hall debating the details of the designs so it was very useful for them to see these samples and full size mock-ups on site. There was much stroking of concrete and lots of questions.

By now though it was getting cold and windy and we were overdue for our Planning Committee meeting back at the Town Hall, so back on the bus we got. All in all it was a whirlwind tour of the Park, which is looking good and seems to be shaping up on schedule. It’s good to see the plans that the Committee have approved so far being delivered.