Olympic News

Significant Progress on Olympic Park Construction

New pictures have been unveiled showing the rapid development of the area set to stage the London 2012 Games. The images, which were released exactly two years after construction began on the Olympic Park site in Stratford, reveal the creation of new roads and bridges as well as work starting on the Olympic Stadium with elements of the steel-seated structure erected and the beginnings of the venue's defining bowl shape clearly visible.

In all, seven cameras have been put in place covering the Olympic site to capture the progress of construction. Work is also on track to start on the foundations of the International Broadcast Centre/Main Press Centre in Spring 2009.

David Higgins, Chief Executive at the ODA, said of the construction progress: "The site has been a hive of activity over the last year with thousands of workers starting work on the venues and infrastructure needed for the games and the new communities in legacy.  These images clearly show the solid progress that has already been made on the ground. With old buildings and overhead pylons coming down, and new venues and infrastructure going up, the skyline of east London is starting to change".

The images were released at the same time as figures revealing that 3,000 workers are now employed on the Olympic Park site. Nearly a quarter of these live in the five host boroughs (Greenwich, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest) and over half of all workers live in London. At the peak of construction around 9,000 workers will be employed on site.