Sustainability at heart of Olympic Park creation

A year after the ODA Sustainable Development Strategy set out how the Park, venues and infrastructure for the 2012 Games would be created using the most sustainable methods possible, the ODA is:

• beating the target to reclaim 90 per cent of demolition material for recycling or reuse
• reclaiming materials to reuse in designs of venues and parklands
• recycling complete buildings to be re-assembled off site
• translocating wildlife and creating new habitats including a wildlife corridor to the north of the Park.

Head of Sustainable Development and Regeneration for the ODA Dan Epstein said: 'Our aim is to make this project an exemplar project which sets new standards for sustainable development and leaves a lasting legacy.

'The commitment to reclaiming as much demolition material as possible is key to our strategy and so far, we are exceeding our 90 per cent target. This is unprecedented for a project of this size and scale.

'Much of these materials will then be integrated into the designs of the new venues and parklands, ensuring there is continuity between the history of the site and its future as the largest new urban Park in Europe.'

In the process of clearing the land and demolishing over 200 buildings, the ODA has been reclaiming as much material as possible to re-use in the design of the venues and Park.

Soil will be cleaned to help create the right ground levels, rubble will be used to create roads and wood will be chipped to add to soil or used to create log walls. A huge amount of bricks, paving slabs, tiles, lampposts and bollards have also be saved to be re-used.

To date, the following have been reclaimed:

• 80 lamposts
• 160 manhole covers and 187 gulleys
• 18 square metres of clay and slate roof tiles
• 2 tonnes of red bricks; 117 tonnes of yorkstone
• 100 tonnes of cobble/granite
• 41 tonnes of paving bricks and 35 tonnes of paving slabs
• 1200m of granite kerbs and 4200m of concrete kerbs.

These will be stored and then used to create aesthetic and practical features for the Park including paths, paving and paving inlays, benches, planters and lighting and water features.

In addition to this, complete buildings will be removed from the Olympic Park to be reused elsewhere. Instead of being demolished, the relatively new, steel framed structures have been dissembled by hand to ensure each part remains in pristine condition and can be re-constructed elsewhere.

Three buildings have already been reclaimed and a further two are being considered. One of the largest buildings, which spans 130m by 40m, is being relocated to Ireland and will be used as a warehouse by a transportation company.

An extensive ecology programme also began last year to identify and translocate a range of wildlife to new habitats and ensure that feeding and breeding habitats are not disrupted by construction work.

The ODA is creating a small nature reserve near the northern perimeter of the Olympic Park, along the banks of the River Lea at East Marsh. The area is being prepared to become home to a variety of wildlife including birds, frogs, spiders and beetles, including endangered ground bugs and the protected toadflax brocade moth.

Natural materials, much recycled from the Olympic Park site clearance programme, will be used to create different habitat areas including wildflower grassland, log walls, compost piles and earth mounds. This joint project with Hackney Council will create a wildlife corridor around the perimeter of the site covering more than 10,000 square metres in total.

Hackney Council Cabinet Member for Regeneration and the 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games Cllr Guy Nicholson, said: 'Hackney Council, working in partnership with the ODA, is creating a new nature reserve along the River Lea in Hackney to provide a home for a broad range of plants and wildlife, including kingfishers, newts, stag beetles and the Pyramidal Orchid. The nature reserve is part of a package of improvements to Hackney Marshes, as part of a lasting legacy from the 2012 Games.'

In addition, the ODA has created additional habitat space in the Waterworks Nature Reserve near Leyton, east London.

Last summer almost 2,000 smooth newts and over 100 common toads were translocated from the Olympic Park to the Waterworks Nature Reserve and in order to make sure there is enough room for the increasing colony, another purpose-built pond has be constructed.

Notes to Editors:

1.The ODA aims to clear and clean the majority of the 2.5 square kilometres Olympic Park by Beijing 2008, which includes demolishing over 220 buildings and cleaning 1.3 million tonnes of contaminated soil with over 90 per cent of waste materials being reused or recycled.

2.The ODA’s Sustainable Development Strategy was published in January 2007. The strategy sets out a series of targets to ensure that the Olympic Park, venues and infrastructure are delivered in a sustainable manner, leaving a lasting social, economic and environmental legacy for east London. The document cam be viewed or downloaded from the London 2012 website: http://www.london2012.com/news/publications/index.php

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For further information please contact the Olympic Delivery Authority Press Office on +44 (0)203 2012 700.

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