GeoActive
Online
OLYMPICS 2012: DEVELOPMENT
PLANS AND ISSUES
N 6 JULY 2005 the International
O Olympic Committee selected
London as the location for the 2012
Olympic Games and Paralympic
Games. The regeneration of the Lower
Lea Valley, a deprived part of East
London, was an important part of the
London bid for the Games. It is hoped
that the very high level of investment
for the Games will bring permanently
higher living standards to this deprived
area.
The Lower Lea Valley
Many locations in and around London
will be used for the Olympic Games.
However, the core location will be the
new 200 hectare Olympic Park in the
Lower Lea Valley (Figure 1). The
Lower Lea Valley forms the boundary
between the boroughs of Newham,
Hackney, Waltham Forest and Tower
Hamlets. It stretches for about 5 km
between Stratford and the River
Thames. Stratford station, which is
about 4 km north of London
Docklands, will be the key transport
point for the Games.
• The Lower Lea Valley is one of the
most deprived communities in Britain.
• Unemployment is high, incomes low
and public health poor.
• This run-down environment with an
N HERTS
Roding
Lea
The Lower
Lea Valley
Thames
Barrier
BUCKS
LONDON
Westminster
Tilbury
Windsor Thames Greenwich
Dartford
KENT
BERKS
Maidstone
0 20 km
SURREY
Figure 1: The Lower Lea Valley
GeoActive Series 19 Issue 1
Series
Fig19380_01
Autumn Mac/eps/illustrator
issue Unit 380 Olympics11 s/sDevelopment Plans and Issues © 2007 Nelson Thornes
2012:
NELSON
This page may be THORNES PUBLISHING
photocopied for use within the purchasing institution only.
Artist: David Russell Illustration
380
by Paul Guinness
industrial history suffers from a lack of
infrastructure.
White:
British
39.4
33.7
• Most of the existing industry provides Irish 1.3
only low-density employment. Other White 4.3
• Flytipping has been a major problem in Mixed: 3.3
the area. White and Black Caribbean 1.2
White and Black African 0.6
• The area is one of the most ethnically White and Asian 0.6
diverse in the UK. Figure 2 shows the
Other Mixed 0.8
percentage of people in various ethnic Asian or Asian British: 32.5
groups in Newham.
Indian 12.1
It is hoped that the Olympic Games Pakistani 8.4
Bangladeshi 8.8
will transform the Lower Lea Valley.
Other Asian 3.1
The total investment in the area was
Black or Black British: 21.5
expected to exceed £6 billion, although
Caribbean 7.3
recent announcements in the press
African 13.1
suggest that costs are likely to greatly Other Black 1.1
exceed this amount. Plans to develop Chinese/other ethnic group: 3.1
the Lower Lea Valley have been Chinese 1.0
around for some time – the devel- Other ethnic group 2.1
opment role of the Olympic Games
will be to speed up this process. Figure 2: Percentage of people in
various ethnic groups in Newham,
Many of the key facilities, including 2001
the Olympic village, the main stadium, Source: National Statistics, 2001 census data
media centre, hockey complex and
warm-up tracks, will be in Newham
(Figure 3). The Olympic Village will
• New land bridges will be built across
provide accommodation and amenities rivers, roads and railways to provide
for 17,000 athletes. A total of 17 of the
the high level of access required.
28 events will take place within 15
minutes’ walking distance from • Three coach and car parks will be
constructed at East Marsh (now
Stratford Station. Excel in Docklands
sports pitches and mature trees), Fish
(Figure 4) will host boxing, judo, tae- Island and Stratford High Street.
kwan-do and table-tennis.
Weightlifting, wrestling and water polo • More than 13 km of overhead power
will be hosted by the University of East lines will be moved underground.
London. Indoor arenas for basketball, • The area is contaminated after being
LONDON volleyball and handball will be built in used for brickfields, gas works,
wharves, mills, distilleries and
Hackney Wick. A velodrome and
ESSEX
BMX cycling facilities will be built in electricity generation. Land remedi-
Waltham Forest and a tennis complex ation (cleaning up and making
suitable for new building) will be
in Bow. Figure 5 is a timetable for the
required and a total of 1,850,000
construction of the new Olympic sites. cubic metres of soil will be processed.
The Lower Lea Valley site • Fencing 5 metres high will be placed
all round the site. A loop or main
• Most of the Olympic site is contained arterial road will run around the edge
between Stratford High Street to the of the precinct inside the fence.
south and the A12 to the north.
GeoActive Online
Page 1 of 4
 N
Hackney
The main benefits of the Games
The perceived benefits which gained

2
Marsh

A1
support for the bid are as follows:
3 Providing 9,000 new homes in the
Velopark Baseball Arena

Hockey
Olympic Park alone, with schools and
Multi-sport Arenas
Mabley
Centre health and community facilities alongside.
Green Olympic Half of the new homes will go to housing

Le a
Village associations.
3 Cleaning up the urban wasteland that is
2
A1

Hackney Stratford
Wick International
currently found in much of the Lower
Stratford Lea Valley and providing the largest new
London park since the Victorian era.
3 Significantly improving transportation
Aquatics Centre
Victoria Park
Olympic
Stadium
and other elements of infrastructure.
3 Permanently providing state-of-the-art
facilities in the area for a wide range of
sports.
West
Ham
3 Speeding up the regeneration of the
Lower Lea Valley and the Thames
Key Gateway. It is estimated that 12,000
Athletics Swimming permanent jobs will be created in the area
of the Olympic Park alone.
3 It is hoped that the 150,000 m media
Baseball Synchronised swimming

Basketball Volleyball (indoor) Bromley by Bow 2

Cycling Handball and broadcasting centre will become a

new focus for media industries.
3 Providing a much-needed boost for the
Diving Hockey
0 1 km
Fencing Modern pentathlon Rail station

tourist industry with half a million visitors

Figure 3: The Olympic complex in the Lower Lea Valley
expected at the time of the Games.
GeoActive Series 19 Issue 1
Fig 380_03 Mac/eps/illustrator 11 s/s 3 Improving the image of both East
NELSON THORNES PUBLISHING London and the country as a whole.
Artist: David Russell Illustration
ExCel
Royal Albert Dock Opposition to the bid
Royal Victoria
Dock
The concerns of opponents of the
King George V Dock
Olympic bid included:
7 The Olympic precinct will be cleared of
Millennium
London City Airport
Dome

Press Centre
every building, business and tree.
7 450 housing association flats and
North
Greenwich Woolwich
Greenwich Foot
Tha
Arena mes Tunnel
Kingsway International Christian Centre
Thames (Britain’s largest church) will be demol-
Barrier
ished.
7 A new site has to be found for travellers
Thames
Greenwich
presently living along Waterden Road.
7 Over 900 businesses will have to be
Foot
Tunnel
Royal
Artillery
Barracks relocated. A significant number of jobs
are likely to be lost in this process.
7 Local residents will be adversely affected
Key by the noise, dust and visual pollution of
Badminton Shooting years of construction and associated
Greenwich
heavy vehicle movement.
7 London council tax payers will bear the
Park Basketball Table tennis

Boxing Taekwondo

Equestrian Water polo brunt of the cost which has already

Blackheath N
greatly increased (Figure 6).
7 Environmentalists are concerned about
Gymnastics Weightlifting

Judo Wrestling
0 1 km
Modern pentathlon Rail station the loss of important wildlife habitats
along the Lower Lea Valley.
7 140 leisure pitches for local people will
Figure 4: Olympic venues in Docklands and Greenwich
GeoActive Series 19 Issue 1
Fig 380_04 Mac/eps/illustrator 11 s/s be demolished.
NELSON THORNES PUBLISHING
Artist: David Russell Illustration

GeoActive Online Series 19 Autumn issue Unit 380 Olympics 2012: Development Plans and Issues © 2007 Nelson Thornes
Page 2 of 4 This page may be photocopied for use within the purchasing institution only.
The key role of transportation
A huge investment in transport will lead
to the building of about fifty stations,
three rail lines and the extension of three 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
others. Many of these projects were Site Summer:
already underway when London was preparation site
for Olympic preparation
awarded the Games (Figure 7). Park begins
More
for Olympic
tenders
(architects More Park
The Stratford City Tenders for
and
other
tenders
completed;
building of
(building
development architects designers) contractors) main stadium
April:
main stadium,
and other begins;
The Stratford City development, on designers construction Athletics Village
of Media and Media
railway land above and around the go out
Centre begins Centre
January:
station, was already approved before construction
completed
November:
London was awarded the Games. It lies process for Tenders
of
Velodrome
largely alongside the Olympic site. Due delivering for
and End 2010:
main building
to be finished in 2020, the £4 billion, 1.2 stadium contractors
BMX arena western arenas
begins End 2008: completed
million m2 scheme involves 4,850 begins go out
Aquatics Centre,
homes, 120 shops, 3 department stores, Velodrome and
4 hotels and a very large area of office Summer:
BMX arena
completed
space. construction
of Athletics
Village
Relocation of existing businesses and three
western
By the time that London was awarded arenas
the Games, 81% of the land in the begins

Olympic Park was already under public End 2006:

control. The London Development construction
of Aquatics
Agency (LDA) is currently negotiating Centre
with the 284 businesses that occupy the begins

remaining 19% of the site. The LDA has

given a clear commitment that no
business will be financially worse off as a GeoActive Series 19 Issue 1
Figure 5: Timetable for construction
result of relocation. Fig 380_05 Mac/eps/illustrator
of the new Olympic sites
11 s/s International (part of
• Stratford
NELSON THORNES PUBLISHING
Channel Tunnel rail link): new 140
Artist: David Russell Illustration
The impact on property prices mph Javelin trains on order, delivery
2009
Newham has been for some time one of CASHFLOW £££££ • New Javelin trains will provide high-
the cheapest areas in London to buy speed commuter service to Thames
Costs
property. However, since London was Gateway
Running the Games £1.5 billion
awarded the Games, house prices have • Stratford and West Ham Underground
been rising at well above the average for Olympic Stadium £560 million stations to be upgraded
• Olympic Park will be linked to 10 rail
London as a whole. Existing home- Athletes’ village and park £650 million
lines that can deliver 240,000
owners could also benefit by letting their Security £200 million passengers per hour
homes for a premium rent during the Redevelopment £800 million • District line: refurbished trains being
Games. delivered by 2008
Transport infrastructure
• East London Transit: funding secured
(already planned) £7 billion
Conclusion for phases 1 and 2, work in progress;
extensions to Crystal Palace, West
There can be little doubt that Britain has Income
Croydon and Hackney
the economic strength and organisa- Lottery £1.5 billion
• DLR extension, Stratford International
tional skills to present an Olympic TV and marketing £560 million to Canning Town (via Stratford); new
Games of very high quality. However, Sponsorship and line opens 2010
the legacy of the modern Games has official suppliers £450 million • DLR 3-car upgrade: 50% capacity
improvement, trains ordered
been one of burden rather than triumph Ticket revenues £300 million • DLR City Airport extension opened
for many cities. In a decade’s time, will Licensing £60 million December 2005
Londoners look back on the Games as a • DLR Woolwich Arsenal extension:
London Development
success or a failure? work in progress, opens 2008
Agency £250 million
• Greenwich Waterfront Transit: funding
Council tax levy £625 million secured for phases 1 and 2

Figure 6: Costs of, and income Figure 7: New transport links for
from, the Olympic Games 2012

Series 19 Autumn issue Unit 380 Olympics 2012: Development Plans and Issues © 2007 Nelson Thornes GeoActive Online
This page may be photocopied for use within the purchasing institution only. Page 3 of 4
 Activities
1 (a) When will the Olympic Games
and Paralympic Games take place in
London?
(b) What are the Paralympic Games?
2 (a) Describe the location of the
Olympic venues shown in Figures 3
and 4.
(b) Look at www.london2012.org to
find the location of other Olympic
venues outside the areas covered by
Figures 3 and 4.
3 (a) Describe the location of the
Lower Lea Valley.
(b) Where is it in relation to London
Docklands?
4 The Lower Lea Valley is a very
deprived area. List four ways in which
such deprivation might be evident.
5 (a) Look at Figure 2. Draw a bar
graph to show the percentage of
people in each of the five main ethnic
groups.
(b) Suggest why Newham has such a
high level of ethnic diversity.
6 (a) What is ‘land remediation’?
(b) Why will this be necessary at the
Olympic site?
(c) Suggest why 13 km of overhead
power cables will be moved under-
ground before development begins.
7 Discuss the main benefits the Games
will bring to the region and to Britain
as a whole.
8 Why did some people oppose
London’s bid for the Olympics?
9 Look at Figure 6 which shows the
initial costs for and income from the
Games. Try to find out how some of
these figures have changed since they
were published in 2005.
10 Many improvements in transport
will be needed to cope with the high
volumes of movement (spectators,
athletes, officials etc) at the Games.
Many of these improvements are
already in progress.
(a) Where will the new ‘International
Station’ be built?
GeoActive Online
Page 4 of 4
(b) Which two other stations serving
the Olympic Park will be upgraded?
(c) The Park will be linked to 10 rail
Check out these websites:
London 2012
www.london2012.org
lines. How many passengers will they
be able to deliver to the Olympic Park London Development Agency
every hour? www.lda.gov.uk
London Borough of Newham
11 Suggest why the Stratford City www.newham.gov.uk
development is so important for the
long-term development of the region.
12 (a) What impact has the success of cost–benefit analysis what your overall
the Olympic bid had on property view is and then feedback to the rest of
prices? your class.
(b) Is this a good or a bad thing?
13 On a copy of Figure 8, insert the
following labels/symbols:
• the Olympic Stadium
• the Olympic Village
• all other Olympic venues
• Stratford International station
• all other stations in the area.
Use appropriate symbols and
remember to include labels and/or a
key.
14 Working in groups, make a list of
costs and benefits from the 2012
Olympic project. Decide from this
N
2
A1
2
A1
Victoria Park
Key
0 1 km
Figure 8: The Olympic complex
GeoActive Series 19 Issue 1
Fig 380_03 Mac/eps/illustrator 11 s/s
Series 19 Autumn issue Unit 380 Olympics
NELSON THORNES 2012: Development Plans and Issues © 2007 Nelson Thornes
PUBLISHING
Artist:
ThisDavid Russell
page may Illustration
be photocopied for use within the purchasing institution only.