Construction work is ongoing to turn the former Olympic site into Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, a fantastic new part of London. The Park will open fully in spring 2014, however to enable people to access the Park as soon as possible some areas will open in phases as construction work gradually completes.

The first area to open will be parts of the north park, whilst the south of the Park including the Aquatics Centre will continue to be worked on until next year.

The boat tours are an exclusive opportunity for local community groups to have a look at the ongoing transformation work in the south of the Park as parts of the north Park start to open.

Dennis Hone, Chief Executive, London Legacy Development Corporation said:

“There is a great deal of work to do on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park before it fully opens in spring 2014. This ongoing construction work means we are no longer able to run public bus tours around the site. So, we are taking to the waves and running boat tours of the Park for local community groups. This means local people can still see what’s going on in the Park whilst we complete our work to transform it into this great new part of London and deliver a great visitor destination and a real legacy for east Londoners.”

The free boat tours are available to community groups in Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest. Groups may be any form of community, youth, religious, charity or sports group or indeed any other appropriate group. Tours are limited to one per group as there are only a limited number of spaces available.

The boat tours will last around 90 minutes and will pass along the River Lee Navigation from Three Mills (Bow) to the southern entrance of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park; taking in the sights of the Stadium and the ArcelorMittal Orbit.

Tours will begin on Monday 1 July and run throughout July and August this summer. The boats are fully accessible.

Groups interested in booking a tour should email boattours@springboard-marketing.co.uk or call 0800 023 2030 with the name of the group, preferred date, accessibility requirements and how you heard about the boat tours. The deadline for expressions of interest is 5pm on Friday 14 June 2013. Sending an expression of interest does not guarantee a tour, however all requests will need to be reviewed and allocated a tour slot.