Olympic Stadium

Olympic Stadium

The innovative Olympic Stadium design allows for an 80,000 seat Athletics stadium to be converted into a more easily maintained 25,000 seat venue after the Games.

A roof will stretch around the Stadium to provide cover and support the lighting and sound systems used to stage the Games. It will also provide a base for special effects during the ceremonies. The Stadium will be built to international track and field standards for athletes.

Where is it?

The Olympic Stadium will be at the south of the Olympic Park on an island site surrounded on three sides by waterways, within easy walking distance of the Olympic Village and warm-up facilities.

Getting ready

At the begining of April, the contractors preparing the site for construction handed over the Olympic Stadium site to Team Stadium, the consortium that was appointed to design and build the Olympic Stadium. The innovative design was unveiled in November 2007 (see image gallery on this page).

The planning submission for the ground works was approved in March 2008. Team Stadium is now making the final preparations to the area, so it is ready for the start of construction at the end of May - three months earlier than planned.

The second planning submission which details what the Stadium will look like will be submitted in May 2008.

All of the existing industrial buildings on the site have been demolished, including warehouses and chemical and metal works.


Soil has been cut from areas that need to be lowered and used to fill others that need to be raised. This will lower the ground level on one side of the site to accommodate the ‘bowl’ design. This bowl, partly built into the ground, will contain the field of play and lower tier of permanent seating.

The Stadium will be completed in 2011, leaving time for test events to take place before the Games.

During the Games

The Olympic Stadium will be at the heart of the London Olympic and Paralympic Games. All Athletics events will take place in the Stadium as well as the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, watched by millions of people around the world. It will have 25,000 permanent seats and 55,000 temporary seats that will be removed after the Games.
 

After the Games

After the Games, the Stadium will be transformed into a 25,000 capacity venue that will host a variety of sporting, educational, cultural and community events. It will be a venue for memorable sporting moments during 2012, but it will continue to add value to the local community for years to come.