One year on Olympic Stadium on track as internal work ramps up

ODA chairman John Armitt said: “One year on from the start of the “big build” the Olympic Stadium is on track and already becoming a feature of the east London skyline. The steady and safe progress is a credit to the team on site and their suppliers across the UK. The Stadium is on schedule to host the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Games in just over three years time and become a high quality facility in legacy for athletics and other sports.”

LOCOG chair Seb Coe said: ‘The Olympic Stadium will become the heartbeat of the Olympic Park in 2012 and home to spectacular sport not just at Games time, but for years to come. It has been a fantastic effort to get us this far, but the future promises much more. A spectacular Olympic Games and Parlaympic Games in 2012 and when the Games have left town, we will have changed the map of east London for good, bringing a regenerated area and multi-sport facilities for both elite and community use – including track and field.’

The fit-out work will require:

• 15,000 sq m of plasterboard
• 140,000 blocks to create walls
• 11km of pipes for drainage
• 338km of power cables plus 33km of other data systems cabling
• 12km of ventilation ducts

Since last May, progress has included:

• More than 4,500 reinforced concrete columns have been installed into the ground, up to 20m deep, to provide the foundations to support the Stadium structure
• 12 of 28 steel sections of the roof compression truss have been lifted into place. Each weighs 85 tonne and is 15m high by 30m long
• 105 of 112 steel rakers have been fixed which act as the terracing supports to hold the 55,000 seats in the upper tiers
• 5,200 of 12,000 pre-cast concrete terracing units for the seating have been put in place
• 400 workers are currently working on site. This is set to increase to around 600 as the internal fit-out work increases and more electricians, brick-layers and plumbers are required.
• First permanent foot bridge lifted into place and work on the abutments of the other four bridges underway

Work has now also begun on the internal fit-out of the Stadium, with the space below the podium level being split into 700 rooms and areas that are needed to create a fully-operational venue. This will include eight changing rooms and the 82m indoor warmup track in the West Stand that will be used by athletes.