Sporty Parks #2: The Olympic Park Sneak Preview...

Capital of Sport

Firstly, an apology for my comments made in my last blog post. "The weather's great but I don't want to jinx it" said I, without properly understanding the consequences of my actions. And now, fellow Londoners, I've singlehandedly subjected the lot of you to grey skies and bigger heating bills. Nice work, Rachel.

But let's avoid getting too hung up on thermometer readings. At some point in the not-too-distant future, we'll get the tropical heat that London is so famous for, our bosses will all give us four-hour lunchtime siestas and we'll dance flamenco in the street until the early hours to the tune of a lilting guitar.

A slightly more probable event that I'm looking forward to is the imminent reopening of the Olympic Park - now renamed as the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Like you, I can't wait so last week I joined a busload of nattering French journalists on a behind-the-scenes tour.

In six weeks, the Copper Box will reopen as a mixed-use sports facility, a 7,000-seater arena and the new home of the London Lions basketball team. At present, there's a lot of diggers, traffic cones and men in fluoro jackets wandering around (see photo) but we're told it's all under control. A further £292m - at this point, the nattering French journalists went quiet - has been spent converting this corner of Stratford for the likes of us.

Opening this summer
* The northern part of the park is hosting a series of concerts and outdoor events - Lollibop , Hard Rock Calling, Open East, Wireless, Electric Daisy - on specially-constructed stages
* The old media centre is know known as iCity. It's already the home to BT Sport (four new sports channels). Loughborough University will be opening a postgraduate/professional campus at iCity in the future.
* In August, the first residents will move into what was the Athletes' Village.
* And, of course, the Copper Box will reopen as a mixed-use sports facility, the home of the London Lions pro basketball team and a 7,000 seat entertainment arena.

Coming later
* The open spaces within the park are to be remodelled. They'll incorporate a carousel, climbing wall and kids' tree house playground, a new twist on the Victorian pleasure gardens concept.
* The velodrome (you may know it as the Pringle) will open in January 2014. Some of the diggers I mentioned were taking bites out of the BMX track so the likes of us can use it without risk of serious injury. BMX, road, mountain and track cycling will all be at the same venue.
* Swimming pool admission will be priced the same as a local leisure centre when it opens in 2014. The seating area will be reduced to 2,500 also.
* Various on-site housing projects are scheduled to begin over the next 15 years, including new accommodation for the nearby University of East London.

Lucky students.

Posted Date
Jun 18, 2013 in Capital of Sport by Rachel Thom