The Olympic Park Legacy Company has appointed BAM Nuttall to help deliver one of the largest construction projects in Europe to create the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

After the 2012 Games, the Legacy Company will turn the Olympic Park into a new piece of London that is stitched into its surrounding communities and will be the foundation for further development over the next 20 years.

Clear, Connect, Complete

The Company is calling the new phase ‘Clear, Connect, Complete’ which will be funded out of the £292m already set aside in the Olympic budget. It will clear Games-time overlay including temporary venues, walkways and roads; connect the Park with new roads, cycle and pedestrian paths that stitch across the site and into the surrounding area; and completepermanent venues, bridges and parklands for their legacy use.

BAM Nuttall has won two separate contracts to deliver £76m worth of the work in the North Park and South Park areas of the site. Around 500 temporary jobs will be created in the process with at least 25% going to local residents in the Host Boroughs and with training and apprenticeship opportunities on offer.

The construction work is expected to take up to 18 months, although the Legacy Company has structured its phasing so that sections of the Park will be opened to the public from summer 2013.

Andrew Altman, Chief Executive of the Olympic Park Legacy Company, said:

“The creation of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will be one of Europe’s largest construction projects that will transform the existing infrastructure built for the Games into a new piece of London.

“Through ‘Clear, Connect, Complete’ we will create an accessible place with public venues, open spaces and connections that reach out to our surrounding communities and entice visitors.

“BAM Nuttall worked on the original Olympic Park and their hands-on knowledge will be invaluable in helping us to achieve our target of reopening the Park in phases from July 2013. This will be a huge achievement given the scale of construction work that is needed and another example of how legacy plans for the Park are more advanced than any previous host Olympic city.”

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said:

“London is streets ahead of previous Olympic cities when it comes to securing a lasting legacy from the Games and with this contract in place the future of the Olympic Park can now really begin to take shape. The creation of thousands of new homes and hundreds of jobs and apprenticeships will bring huge benefits to east London and help drive growth across the capital for many years to come.”

Stephen Fox, CEO of BAM Nuttall Limited, said:

“We are delighted with the award of these two prestigious contracts that will maintain our long association with the Olympic Park site, which currently spans some four years.

“We have been involved in the successful delivery of numerous projects at the Olympic Park including the original site preparation, the construction of bridges and a great deal of landscaping work. These new awards now mean that we will be able to utilise our specialist skills to create a permanent legacy, which will assist in the regeneration of this area of London.”

Local Government Minister, Bob Neill, said:

“The march to a permanent legacy continues apace as the contractor to transform the Olympic Park is announced today. I’m pleased that BAM Nutall will start the important process of transforming the newest and most exciting piece of London, providing jobs, vibrant open spaces and homes for local people. I know the people of East London are anxious to use and experience the Park and I am impressed that they can start to do so within a year of the Olympics.”

Hugh Robertson, Minister for Sport and the Olympics, said:

“The appointment of BAM Nuttall will help set the foundations for a fantastic Olympic Park post the London 2012 Games. I am confident that the Park and its surrounding areas will be one of the most vibrant parts of the capital in the years to come and pleased that this construction project will open up further job opportunities for local people.”

      
The Olympic Park has been designed so that it retains as much of the Games-time Park as possible in order to protect the investment that has already been made.

The job of transforming the Olympic Park for legacy use after the Games was transferred to the Legacy Company from the Olympic Delivery Authority in August last year to be more efficient and effective in creating the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Responsibility for the tender of both the North Park and South Park contracts were also transferred over to the Legacy Company creating a shortlist of five bidders for each contract.

The contracts include:

Clear

• Removal of Athletes Training Centre at Eton Manor (temporary venue)
• Removal of Basketball Arena (temporary venue)
• Removal of Water Polo (temporary venue)
• Removal of warm-up track (temporary venue)
• Removal of Games-time security areas and spectator stands.

Connect

• Around 9.5 km of the Games-time road network
• Connect surrounding communities to the heart of the Park with new footways and cycle paths
• Reconfiguration of 30 Games-time bridges and underpasses to improve public access.

Complete

• Doubling of the amount of parkland to 102 hectares including the planting of a further 2,000 trees, ten hectares of meadow, new lawns and two large allotment sites.
• Conversion of the Press Centre and Broadcast Centre site by removing the catering village and gantry to prepare for incoming tenant, and adding of photovoltaic panels and cladding to the car park
• Create the Lee Valley VeloPark, including the addition of a 1.6 km outdoor cycle circuit, a 6.5 km mountain bike trail, the regarding of the BMX circuit and internal work to the Velodrome
• Create the Lee Valley Tennis Centre and Lee Valley Hockey Centre on the Eton Manor site for Hockey and Tennis
• Internal fit-out of the Multi-Use Arena for public use
• Reinstate 12 football pitches at East Marsh

     
In addition to this, separate contracts have or will be let for other venues and areas. They include the Aquatics Centre, the Stadium, visitor centres and playgrounds in the North Park and South Park, and the creation of the South Plaza – a 50 acre public space that will sit between the Stadium, the ArcelorMittal Orbit and the Aquatics Centre.

The Legacy Company will also be involving the local communities during the construction project by providing forms of community access, along with outreach work so that residents, schools and community groups are involved in our plans throughout.