The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) released new images today showing the completed cladding on the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) and the Main Press Centre (MPC) reaching its full height.
The venue is being delivered by a team of companies from across the UK. Around 15,000sq m of wall and 26,000sq m of roof covering for the IBC were installed by a north-east based firm using cladding manufactured in Wales. The concrete foundations of the IBC/MPC were built by a company from Host Borough Greenwich, with the steel for the huge IBC frame fabricated in North Yorkshire and produced in Scunthorpe and Teesside.
A company from the Midlands has just laid over 55,000sq m of concrete flooring to the IBC. A Teddington company is currently pouring more than 30,000 tonnes of concrete to create the frame of the four-storey MPC. The four lift cores have reached their full height and work is underway the third floor of the building.
Together the IBC/MPC will support around 20,000 broadcasters, photographers and journalists communicating the Games to an audience of four billion people worldwide.
In legacy the facilities will create just under 900,000 square feet of sustainable business space with the potential to generate thousands of new jobs. It will be managed by the Olympic Park Legacy Company which is responsible for the long term development planning, management and maintenance of the Olympic Park.
ODA Chairman John Armitt said: 'The "big build" is on track as we enter our toughest year with work accelerating on infrastructure and venues across the Olympic Park.
'The IBC/MPC is taking shape due to the hard work of companies from across the UK with cladding from Wales, steel from the north of England and flooring and foundations delivered by local companies. We’re on schedule to provide a quality working environment for media during the Games and flexible employment space for a range of potential legacy tenants and users.'
Sebastian Coe, Chair of the London 2012 Organising Committee said: 'These images demonstrate the progress we are making in delivering the best facilities for the 20,000 members of the world’s broadcasters, press and photographers in the summer of 2012. Billions of people around the world rely on the international media to relay the stories of human endeavour on the field of play and capture the atmosphere of the Games. The impressive plans for the IBC/MPC will help us tell these stories while leaving high performance workspace after the Games for the east of London.'
Tessa Jowell, Minister for the Olympics, said: 'With the International Broadcast Centre cladding now in place and the huge steel frame of the Main Press Centre complete, the Games’ biggest venue is really starting to take shape.
'This venue combines local and national workmanship with companies close to the Olympic Park involved in its construction alongside businesses from Wales, Wolverhampton, Scunthorpe and Teeside – a real example of how the Games are benefitting the whole UK.
'The Broadcast and Press Centres will be key aspects of the Olympic Park in legacy, providing a new space for the UK’s growing digital sector and creative economies, generating employment opportunities in this vibrant new corner of London.'
Jules Pipe, elected Mayor of Hackney, said: 'The International Broadcast Centre and Main Press Centre for 2012 in Hackney will provide permanent employment space after the Games, bringing a vital economic legacy for Hackney and East London. This will allow the digital, creative and media industries the space they need to expand, while creating high quality jobs.'
Andrew Altman, Chief Executive of the Olympic Park Legacy Company, said: 'The Main Press Centre and the International Broadcast Centre will become one of the cornerstones of London’s Olympic legacy leading to employment opportunities in the creative sector.
'The buildings have been designed with flexibility in mind so they can meet the needs of tenants by being reconfigured depending on the requirements of market demand.'
The latest images of the IBC/MPC ‘big build’ and two webcams can be viewed at the links below:
Images:
http://mm.gettyimages.com/mm/nicePath/locog?nav=pr133749623MPC:
http://www.london2012.com/plans/olympic-park/webcams/main-press-centre.php IBC:
http://www.london2012.com/webcams/international-broadcast-centre.php Big Build: IBC/MPC
The IBC/MPC combines an innovative mixture of permanent and temporary elements during the Games and has been designed to be as flexible as possible to accommodate a range of potential legacy tenants and uses.
The MPC includes:
- 29,000sq m of green office space by the River Lee Navigation, providing four storeys of workspace for journalists and photographers during the Games.
- Innovatively designed flexibility that enables the building to be adapted in legacy for either a single tenant in the whole building or on each floor, as well as multiple tenants on each floor.
- A connected single strip of single storey buildings facing the canal that can be separated into ‘mews’ accommodation in legacy offering another type of quality business space in legacy.
- New utilities, power and digital connectivity during the Games and in legacy.
- Innovations designed to meet demanding green building standards in legacy including a 2,500sq m ‘brown roof’ of gravel and moss to encourage invertebrates; 60 per cent of non-drinking water to be collected from across the Olympic Park; habitats including over 100 bird and bat boxes.
The IBC includes:
- Around 52,000sq m of studio space over two 8-10m high floors during the Games with a temporary gantry running along the 275m-long, 104m-wide building for technical equipment.
- 8,000sq m of offices over five floors at the front of the building.
- The flexibility in legacy to be separated into a number of units and for design features to be altered such as cladding replaced with windows.
Temporary Games-time elements, most of which reduce the Games and legacy transformation costs, include:
- A 12,000sq m catering village serving 50,000 meals a day 24 hours.
- A 200 metre-long High Street between the MPC and IBC featuring outlets such as banks, newsagents, travel agents and a post office.
- A temporary Media Conference room between the IBC and MPC for up to 800 journalists.
A Media Transport Mall providing coach drop-off and car parking, accreditation and security screening during the Games will be halved in legacy to provide car parking spaces to legacy tenants alongside walking, cycling and public transport connections.
Notes to Editors
- Images of the IBC/MPC construction can be downloaded at: http://mm.gettyimages.com/mm/nicePath/locog?nav=pr133749623
- Wolverhampton-based Carillion is building the IBC/MPC. The design team is made up of Allies and Morrison, Buro Happold and RPS Burks Green.
- The wall and roof covering for the IBC were installed by north-east based Hathaway using cladding manufactured in Wales by Euroclad. The concrete foundations of the IBC/MPC were built by O’Keefe from Greenwich. The IBC steel was fabricated in North Yorkshire by Severfield Reeve and produced in Scunthorpe and Teesside by Corus. Byrne Brothers from Teddington are currently pouring the concrete for the MPC frame and lifting the concrete slabs and concrete columns to create the multi-storey car park. Stanford Flooring, from the Midlands, poured all the concrete flooring to the IBC.
- Parts of the external IBC cladding have been left open to allow the loading of equipment inside the building.
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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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