Olympic and Paralympic Village
The southern part of the Park will focus on retaining the festival atmosphere of the Games, with riverside gardens, markets, events, cafes and bars. The northern area will use the latest green techniques to manage flood and rain water, while providing quieter public space and habitats for hundreds of existing and rare species, from kingfishers to otters.
Planting was completed on the Olympic Park in November 2011.
Some 250 acres of new parklands has been created from former industrial land by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), providing a colourful atmosphere for the London 2012 Games and beyond.
The Olympic Parklands contain 4,000 semi-mature trees, over 300,000 wetland plants and more than ten football fields worth of nectar-rich annual and perennial meadows designed and sown to flower during the London 2012 Games.
A riverside London 2012 Garden stretches for half a mile between the Aquatics Centre and Olympic Stadium, featuring 120,000 plants from 250 different species across the world, arranged by temperate regions.
The parklands area will also become a haven for wildlife and plants, with new
habitats created for species including otter, kingfisher, grey heron and water
vole.
The trees have been carefully selected to ensure they are ‘future proof’ against climate change. They are mostly native species, such as ash, alder, willow, birch, hazel, cherry, poplar, London plane and lime.
It will also be a highly accessible Park. The gradients of the paths will be accessible to everyone and views will be maintained of the new venues and landmarks in the surrounding area. ‘Henman Hills’ will be created so visitors to the Park during the Games will be able to watch live action on large screens.
Read the big build: Completion (PDF 12.96MB) document to find out about progress on the Olympic Park.
