London Olympic Village Handed Over
The Olympic Delivery Authority is handing over the Olympic Village site
to the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games
(LOCOG) today, which also marks exactly six months until the start of
the Games.
The handover of the Village marks the start of the
huge process to fit-out the new apartments and Village site ready to
welcome athletes and officials from around the world.
Four times
Olympic gold medallist Matthew Pinsent was on-hand to help start
LOCOG’s ‘bedding in’ process, helping lift in the first of more than
16,000 beds to be installed in the Village in the coming months.
The
Olympic Village will be able to house up to 16,000 thousand athletes
and team officials during the Olympic Games and 6,200 thousand athletes
and team officials plus 1000 referees and umpires during the Paralympic
Games, all from 200 countries around the world.
The fit-out and
overlay work now underway to get the Village ready for the Games
includes installing 16,000 beds, 64,000 bed sheets, 21,000 pillows,
9,000 wardrobes, more than 170,000 coat hangers, 11,000 sofas, 5,000
bins and 5,000 toilet brushes.
The Village will also provide the largest peacetime catering operation in the world with up to 60,000 meals served daily.
The ODA started work on the Village in June 2008 and has now completed the construction of 2,818 new apartments on time.
LOCOG
Chair Seb Coe said: ‘Athletes are at the heart of the London 2012 Games
and our plans for the Olympic Village will provide them with a
home-from-home as they prepare for one of the biggest sporting moments
of their lives. With the Village now handed over we are starting the
huge process to install essential facilities and services ready to
welcome competitors from around the world in 6 months’ time.’
ODA
Chairman John Armitt added: ‘The Olympic Village has been built by
companies from every part of the UK, working together to ensure it was
completed on time and overcoming the challenges posed by the credit
crunch and economic downturn.’
‘The apartments are ready but our work is
not quite done. We will be finishing the landscaping as winter turns
into spring, and then returning after the Games to complete the
transformation to create new homes for Londoners.’
After the
Games, the Village will create a legacy of 2,818 new homes across 11
individually designed plots in a new community to be known as East
Village.
Of the homes in the Village, 1,379 have been purchased
by joint venture Triathlon Homes to provide high-quality affordable
housing.
The remaining 1,439 properties will become private
housing after being acquired by a consortium of UK developer Delancey
and the Qatari Diar real estate investment company.
