The 12,000-seat Basketball Arena – one of the largest temporary venues ever built for an Olympic and Paralympic Games – has had its external cladding completed.

Elsewhere in the 500-acre Olympic Park, the main structure is now in place for the 7,000-seat Handball Arena.

The Basketball Arena, which is longer than a football pitch at 114m, 98m wide and as tall as the Tate Modern at 35m, is moving towards completion next spring, while the Handball Arena has a summer 2011 finish date.

ODA Chairman John Armitt said: 'The Basketball Arena and Handball Arena are two very different structures – one large and temporary; the other compact and permanent. Their contrasting designs and the progress we have made on their construction reflect the first-class abilities of the construction teams working on the site.

'Both also highlight our approach to legacy - only building permanent structures which can serve communities post-2012. The temporary Basketball Arena will be taken down and used again elsewhere while the Handball Arena is a permanent useable space which can accommodate an array of activities both during and after the Games.'

London 2012 Organising Committee Chair Seb Coe said:  'It is very exciting to see the Basketball Arena taking shape so quickly.  The Arena will be a superb venue which will host some fantastic sport at both the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.  Basketball is one of the most popular Olympic sports and fans will be watching in a spectacular setting.

'Likewise, the Handball Arena will provide athletes with a state-of-the-art, purpose-built facility at Games-time and the local London community with a much needed flexible indoor sports arena after the Games. Handball is a very popular sport, particularly strong in Europe. London 2012 will provide an enthusiastic, passionate and knowledgeable audience with the chance to witness great sport in a great venue.'

The 1,000-tonne superstructure for the Basketball Arena is now wrapped in 20,000sq m of recyclable white PVC membrane, providing an early view of what the venue will look like when finished. During the Games the fabric, which is stretched over three different variations of arched panels, will act as a canvas for an artistic and innovative external lighting design.

It will stage the Basketball preliminaries and quarter-finals, Wheelchair Basketball, Wheelchair Rugby and the Handball men’s quarter-finals, all semi-finals and medal matches.

After the Games, the venue will be dismantled by the owning construction contractor and elements potentially used at other UK and overseas events. A number of enquiries have already been received regarding future use of parts of the arena.

The Handball Arena’s main structure, also weighing 1,000 tonnes, will now start to be clad in 3,000sq m of copper with a high recycled content to give a rich natural colour as it ages.

It will feature 700 sq m of glazing that will encircle the building at concourse level, also serving to illuminate the venue at night.

Foundations for the building concluded in December last year, after which 30 concrete walls were lifted into place. The steel frame, fabricated in Bolton, was then constructed.

The venue is one of the most compact sporting venues on the park. Retractable seating will help create a 2,743sq m field of play space. To reduce the need for electricity, 88 light pipes in the ceiling will allow natural daylight into the venue, while rainwater harvesting from the roof for toilet flushing will help to reduce water use by an estimated 40 per cent.

During the Games the Handball Arena will host men’s and women’s preliminary stages and the women’s quarter-finals for the Handball competition, as well as the Fencing Discipline of the Modern Pentathlon, and Goalball during the Paralympic Games. 

The Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) is responsible for the development, planning, management and maintenance of the Olympic Park site after the Games, including the Multi Use Arena (Handball Arena during Games-time). With 6,000 spectator capacity, which can be extended to 7,500 seats, OPLC could also offer the venue for cultural, entertainment and business events.

Notes to Editors:

• Sports to be staged at the Basketball and Handball Arenas include:

Basketball: The Olympic Basketball competition will have 288 athletes competing for two gold medals - 144 men and 144 women, and 12 teams of 12 players in each competition.

Handball: Two teams of seven players pass and dribble a small synthetic or leather ball using only their hands. The aim is to score a goal by throwing the ball past the defending goalkeeper. The team with the most goals wins.

Wheelchair Rugby: Played indoors on a regulation size basketball court using a white ball identical in size and shape to a volleyball. Teams have four players on the court and the object of the game is to carry the ball across the opposition’s goal line.

Modern Pentathlon: Athletes compete in five different sports. The order of events is Fencing, Swimming, Riding and the combined Running and Shooting event. Points are awarded according to how well the athletes do in each of the events.

Goalball: Played by two teams of three on an indoor volleyball court. The aim is to score goals by rolling the ball into the opposing team’s net. The opposing players attempt to block the ball with their bodies.

• The Handball Arena is being built by Buckingham Group Contracting, based in Stowe, Bucks.
• Companies who have won contracts for the Basketball Arena include:

Scotland: Barr Construction in Glasgow is building the structure.

West Midlands: Slick Seating in Redditch is providing the temporary seating.

South West: Base from Bristol is providing the membrane cladding for the outside of the Arena.

South East: Envirowrap from Tenterden in Kent is providing the wrapping for the seats;

Northern Ireland: McAvoy from Dungannon is building the temporary accommodation.

Yorkshire: Fullflow Group Ltd in Sheffield is a sub-contractor to Barr Construction and will be installing the syphonic drainage.

• Digital and construction images of the Basketball and Handball Arenas can be downloaded at: http://mm.gettyimages.com/mm/nicePath/locog?nav=pr138434696

 – Ends –

For further information please contact the Olympic Delivery Authority Press Office on +44 (0)20 3 2012 700.

The construction of the venues and infrastructure of the London 2012 Games is funded by the National Lottery through the Olympic Lottery Distributor, The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Mayor of London and the London Development Agency.

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