London Plans to Turn Olympic Venues into Educational Facilities; Swimming Venue Construction Underway

LONDON, England, February 10. TO make sure that the 2012 Olympic Games have a lasting impact on the city and surrounding areas, London 2012 has plans to turn its Olympic venues into educational facilities after the 2012 Games, according to the Guardian.

The facility is likely to be built within the media village once the games are over. It is part of a range of education facilities planned for the site that include a sports-focused secondary school in the Olympic stadium, an arts academy in the Olympic village and three new primary schools.

The plans, which were opened to public consultation today, set out proposals to build 10,000 new homes, in addition to 3,000 already being built in the Olympic village.

Full text of the Guardian article.

Meanwhile, construction of the swimming venue is underway. London 2012 has released the following factoids regarding the building:

Aquatics Centre factfile

1. The Zaha Hadid designed Aquatics Centre is located in the south of the Olympic Park and will be the main ‘Gateway into the Games', hosting Swimming, Diving, Synchronized Swimming, Water Polo finals and the swimming discipline of the Modern Pentathlon

2. The Aquatics Centre will have a capacity of 17,500 during the Games, reducing to a maximum of 2,500 in legacy, with the ability to add 1,000 for major events, and provide two 50m swimming pools, a diving pool and dry diving area – facilities London does not have at present

3. Eleven industrial buildings have been demolished on the 55,000 m2 site.

4. Around 160,000 tonnes of soil have been dug out on of what was one of the more challenging and complex areas of the Olympic Park, contaminated with pollutants including petrol, oil, tar, solvents and heavy metals such as arsenic and lead

5. Four skeletons were discovered and removed from a prehistoric settlement discovered on the site of the Aquatic Centre.

6. 140,000 tonnes of clean soil has been brought from other areas of the Olympic Park to prepare for construction to start.

7. Planning permission has been achieved and Balfour Beatty is building the Aquatics Centre and huge land-bridge that forms the roof of the training pool and the main pedestrian access to the Olympic Park. Construction work will be complete in 2011 for test events ahead of the Games.

8. The sweeping roof, which is 160m long and 80m at its widest point, is an innovative 2,800-tonne steel structure with a striking and robust aluminium covering resting on three supports.

9. The roof will be internally and externally clad with timber. The team is currently finalizing its selection of the most appropriate timber both for the Games and in legacy before installation in 2010.

10. The river that runs alongside the venue has been widened by eight meter by building 550m of new river walls.

11. The huge completed southern roof support is 9m high, 28m long, over 5m wide, using 850m³ of concrete

12. A 3,000-tonne concrete ‘bridge' has been built spanning and protecting the tunnels which have been dug to run powerlines beneath the site. The northwest roof support will be built on top of this base.

Construction is well underway on the north east roof support, with 4m high of concrete already poured.

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