The Olympic Park Legacy Company has generated extensive interest in the Press Centre and Broadcast Centre buildings, and the first residential neighbourhood to be developed after the Games.

Friday was the closing date for organisations to register their interest in two of the first opportunities for private enterprises to move onto the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. 

A dozen high profile developers came forward to compete to become the development partner for Chobham Manor. The neighbourhood will have around 800 homes with 70% of them offering much needed family housing. Construction will begin in 2013, with the first homes being ready in 2015.  

Ten companies have bid to be significant tenants of the Press Centre and Broadcast Centre with approaches ranging from the minimum occupation of one floor in either building to the complete take up of each building on long leases. The Legacy Company will shortlist bidders in the New Year.

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

“We have received an extremely strong response to the Press and Broadcast Centre and Chobham Manor opportunities. Such market interest in the current economic climate is testament to the private sector’s confidence in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

“Our plans for the Olympic Park after the Games are more advanced than any other Olympic host city and we will continue this pace by appointing tenants and a development partner before the 2012 Games have even started.”

Progress to secure the future of the Legacy Company’s other venues continues to gather pace with the upcoming appointment of operators for the Aquatics Centre, Multi-Use Arena (known as the Handball during Games-time), the ArcelorMittal Orbit, as well as a contract to maintain the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Shortly the Legacy Company will also open the bidding process for organisations interested in becoming tenants and occupants of the multi-use Olympic Stadium.

The Company will also announce the winners for two separate design competitions for the north and south Park areas. The centrepiece will be a major public space sitting between the ArcelorMittal Orbit, the Olympic Stadium and the Aquatics Centre in the south of the Park. The north Park competition involves the design of a visitor centre and a major playground in the green landscaped parkland that sits either side of the river Lea.

All of the Legacy Company contracts on offer will have a specific focus on sustainability, local training and local employment and encouraging local people to use the venues and facilities in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.