Park clean up picks up pace

A 50 tonne machine will wash, sieve and shake contamination out of the soil in one of the UK’s most challenging land clean-up jobs.

The 2.5 square kilometre Olympic Park site is contaminated from over a century of neglect and heavy industrial use and must be cleaned before constuction begins next year.

ODA Chief Executive David Higgins said: "Mounting one of the UK’s most challenging clean-up jobs against a fixed timetable is a real challenge.

"However, for the last year we have been testing extensively and are confident we have the expertise in place to tackle it in a way that also maximises reuse of materials.

"The clean-up is also a vital part of regenerating the area around the park by opening it up for new and existing neighbourhoods."

18 July 2007