East Village, London

East Village is a housing development in Stratford, East London that was designed and constructed as the Olympic Village of the 2012 Summer Olympics and has been converted for use as a new residential district, complete with independent shops, bars and restaurants. The area was formerly contaminated waste land and industrial buildings to the north of Stratford town centre.

East Village

Olympic and Paralympic Village, April 2012. To the rear is the temporary Basketball Arena
East Village
Location within Greater London
OS grid referenceTQ385845
• Charing Cross6 mi (9.7 km) WSW
London borough
Ceremonial countyGreater London
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townLONDON
Postcode districtE20
Dialling code020
PoliceMetropolitan
FireLondon
AmbulanceLondon
UK Parliament
London Assembly

History

Planning and construction
Olympic Village during construction, September 2010
Aerial overview of the Olympic Park south towards the River Thames, during construction in April 2011. With the Olympic Stadium in the centre of picture, the Olympic Village is at the bottom, centre

As part of the regeneration programme within the bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics, the Olympic Village design to house the athletes was based on reusing the buildings after the games as a new residential district for Stratford. Through a competitive bidding process, the then Labour British government chose a proposal by Lend Lease Project Management & Construction which covered financing and construction of both the Olympic Village and part of the London Olympics Media Centre. This would both provide accommodation for 24,000 athletes, and afterwards provide a mix of low cost and private residential housing, within a community that would comprise offices, shops, schools and a health centre.

Cilantro Engineering were appointed to work as part of a collaborative team to deliver Design and Build MEP Installations for LendLease.

Lend Lease engaged a team of: architects Fletcher Priest; structural engineers Arup; and urban planning/landscape architecture firm West 8 and Vogt Landscape. They were briefed to design a village-garden type district to fit in with the wider urban park vision of the Olympic Park legacy, emulating the classical Victorian architecture layout of Maida Vale and other parts of Victorian west London.[1] On a 27 hectares (67 acres) site,[2] the plan provided for 11 residential plots, each made up of 5 to 7 blocks, built around communal squares and courtyards, with water features accentuating the closeness of the River Lea.[1] Each of the 67 blocks is of between 8 and 12 storeys high, nominally laid out:[1] Street level of mostly three storey townhouses, with front doors on street level to create an "active frontage".[1] These are supplemented by a mix of single to three storey shops and offices.[1] Floor 3 and above in the centre of the complex are communal raised gardens, which hide carparks beneath.[1] At and above this level are a mix of low cost and private residential apartments, ranging from studio to five bedroom. Each apartment provides generous floor spacing, and each includes its own balcony that is big enough for a table and chairs.[1]

The whole Olympic Park site was proposed to be secured under a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) by the London Development Agency. In late 2005, a row broke out between then Mayor of London Ken Livingstone and Newham Council/Westfield Group over the use of the legal instrument. The site for the Olympic Village was to be located next to the £4Bn development of Stratford City, but access difficulties meant that the Olympic Park CPO extended onto the site for Stratford City. In November 2005, an agreement was made whereby the CPO over the Westfield site was removed, subject to agreed access provisions to the Olympic Village.[3]

In light of the 2008 financial crisis, Lend Lease found difficulties in raising funds on the commercial markets for the construction of the village, the single largest project in the 2012 Summer Olympics scheme.[4] The government via the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) hence agreed to underwrite a greater part of the required sum, and a scale-back of the project scale by 25%, on the proviso that athletes competing in non-London based events would be housed locally to their competition.[5] Following the athletes' experiences in Beijing 2008, and in particular through comments concerning athletes' welfare by International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge, this compromise was to be reconsidered whilst pressure built for the finance deal to be resolved.[6]

Up until this point, the proposed site had been a mix of former industrial buildings and contaminated waste land. The proposed site for the village provided two living camp sites for Irish Travellers, one on Clays Lane, Newham, and a second on Waterden Crescent, Hackney. The final part of the Olympic CPO covering the village site, secured in December 2006, was unsuccessfully challenged by the travellers in the High Court in May 2007.[7] Towards the end of demolition/site clearance, on 12 November 2007 a fire broke out in an old industrial warehouse on Waterden Road, Hackney Wick, on the western edge of the proposed Olympic village site. With flames of 50 feet (15 m) in height engulfing the building and sending clouds of acrid black smoke over the city centre, it took 75 firefighters from the London Fire Brigade to bring the fire under control.[8]

Olympic and Paralympic village
View looking towards the Olympic and Paralympic Village, April 2012. In the foreground is the London Velopark, followed by the Basketball Arena and then the Village. To the top right is the London Aquatics Centre, to the right of which (out of shot) is the Olympic Stadium.
View towards Stratford City/Olympic Village, June 2011. In the centre is Stratford International station. To its immediate left is Stratford City, to its immediate right the under construction Olympic Village. To the rear are various buildings of the Olympic Park, raging from (far left) the Olympic Stadium, to (far right) the London Olympics Media Centre

During the summer of 2012, the first use for the blocks was as the Olympic Village for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Taking the original design, the architects added temporary partitioning to create "hotel" style apartments catering for:[1] 3,300 apartments: each to have a TV, internet access, and a private courtyard; and 17,320 beds (this is around 17,000 for athletes ~ 10903 (total number of them)[9] and rest for officials during the Games):[10] providing each athlete with 16 square metres (170 sq ft) floor space. In addition, the developers added two temporary buildings: a 17,000 square metres (180,000 sq ft) food hall, which was open 24 hours a day, capable of catering for 5,500 athletes at a time; and an entertainment hall of 10,000 square metres (110,000 sq ft), providing Video games for the athletes use and a communal rest space, plus a non-alcoholic bar. The village also included a plaza, where athletes were able to meet with friends and family. During the games[1]

There is a full list of the buildings and the athletes that stayed in them during the 2012 Olympics,[11] and plaques in all East Village building foyers mark which countries stayed there. For example, the British team stayed in Calla House, Kotata House and Tayberry House; Greece in Hopground House; Spain in Carina House; Ukraine in Emperor House; Japan in Applegate House; Armenia, Peru and Slovenia in Calico House; Belgium, Cape Verde and Kyrgyzstan in Frye House; Costa Rica And Yemen in Galena House; And the Netherlands in Heinieken House.

After the Games
Main article: Legacy of the 2012 Summer Olympics

After the conclusion of the games, the Olympic housing was adapted to create a new residential quarter to be known as East Village.[1] The new construction created 2,818 new homes, including 1,379 affordable homes and houses, for sale and rent. The wider community is planned with wide vistas filled with gardens, parks and communal areas, within which are to be housed a school, a health clinic and shops.[1] Having sold the affordable homes to Triathlon Homes in 2009 for £268 million,[12][13] a competitive tender was issued in 2008 for ODA's interests in the remaining 1,439 private homes, along with six adjacent future development plots with the potential for a further 2,000 new homes, and long-term management of East Village.

The ODA received three bids:[14] a joint-venture between Jamie Ritblat's Delancey and Qatari Diar; Hutchison Whampoa; and Wellcome Trust, who bid to take over all the 2.5 square kilometres (0.97 sq mi) Olympic park. In August 2011, the ODA announced an agreement with Delancey/Qatari Diar, who paid £557 million for the East Village site,[2] representing an estimated £275 million loss to the ODA and hence the British taxpayer. Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt commented that the ODA never expected to recoup building costs: "It was an entirely empty site, it didn't have any infrastructure, roads or parks. There was always going to be a public sector contribution to help put those in."[13]

Chobham Academy in April 2012

Temporary partitions installed during the games are being removed to create a range of one to five-bed homes, ranging from apartments to townhouses. The hotel style designed rooms were converted to include kitchens. 1,439 private homes are let on a rental basis, instead of being sold, with the ownership remaining with Delancey/Qatari Diar and managed by Get Living London. This created the first UK private sector residential fund of over 1,000 homes to be owned and directly managed as an investment.[2] In addition, the developers created new parklands and additional transport links. A health centre [15] for residents of East Village and the surrounding areas has also been constructed. Independent retailers have been brought in to East Village, which is now a neighbourhood in its own right.

The developers also added Chobham Academy, a new education campus with 1,800 places for students aged 3–19. During the Olympics, the school building was used as the main base for organising and managing teams. Rebuilt after the games, it opened in September 2013 as Chobham Academy, home to an education campus, comprising nursery, primary and secondary schools; an adult learning facility; and a community arts complex.[16] In July 2015 Chobham Academy was rated 'Outstanding' by OFSTED.[17]

Transport
Olympic and Paralympic Village, April 2012. To the right is the Stratford International station.

East Village is located at Stratford International station with fast services to central London (in 5–6 minutes) via High Speed One, on Southeastern trains, but not Eurostar, whose trains do not stop at Stratford International station. The Docklands Light Railway gives direct access to much of the east of London, and is one stop from Stratford station, which itself gives access to the Great Eastern Main Line (services operated by Greater Anglia and TfL Rail), c2c services (weekends only), the North London line (services operated by London Overground) and the London Underground Jubilee and Central lines.

London Bus routes 97, 108, 308 and 339 and night route N205 serve East Village. Also, route D8 stops nearby at Stratford International and routes 58, 69 and 158 stops nearby on Leyton High Road along with route 97.

Generally, walking distance from Big Ben is about 10 km (6 mi).[18] At the time of the Olympics Stratford and Stratford International Stations were located in Travelcard Zone 3[19] During the Olympics, for every competition day there an all-zones free travel day card.[20] As of January 2016 Stratford station and Stratford International station have been moved to Zone 2/3.[21]

Sustainability

Residential accommodation was designed to achieve Code for Sustainable Homes Level 4 on 8 September 2012.[22]

Plot N25, car park for Stratford International Station achieved CEEQUAL Excellent on 8 September 2012.[23]

Permanent and temporary timber used was externally verified and audited and the project achieved Full Project FSC certification (2009: TT-PRO-002826) on 31 January 2012.[24]

In construction the project achieved three Gold awards from the Considerate Constructors Scheme in 2010, 2011 and 2012, project registration references: 32454,36861 and 46760.[25]

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See also

References
  1. Rowan Moore (8 January 2012). "Olympic Village – review". London: The Observer. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  2. "London Olympics Village Investor". e-architect.co.uk. 15 August 2011. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  3. "Deal settles 2012 site land row". BBC News. 21 November 2005. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  4. London 2012 Games village deal seen by year-end Reuters Accessed 8 October 2008
  5. London 2012 Olympic village funding to be settled by end of 2008 following reduction in scale Associated Press Released 11 July 2008
  6. 2012 Games will be under budget BBC News Accessed 31 August 2008
  7. "Gypsies lose Olympic site battle". BBC News. 3 May 2007. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  8. "Olympic Park fire under control". BBC News. 12 November 2007. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  9. Rogers, Simon (27 July 2012). "World news,Olympic Games 2012 olympics olys". The Guardian. London.
  10. London 2012 Venues - Top Stories Videos & Photos | Olympicorg
  11. "Olympics/Paralympics, who stayed where?" (PDF). Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  12. "Olympic village handed more funds". BBC News. 13 May 2009. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  13. Julia Kollewe (12 August 2011). "Olympic Village snapped up by Qatari ruling family for £557m". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  14. "Delancey, Qatari Diar sign Olympic village deal". Reuters. 15 August 2011. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  15. http://www.guttmann.nhs.uk/
  16. "Olympic school gets the go ahead". BBC News. 3 April 2009. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  17. http://www.chobhamacademy.org.uk/254/ofsted-report
  18. Google Maps
  19. London: The Olympic Park - TripAdvisor
  20. Tube, DLR and London Overground | Transport for London
  21. "Stratford stations to become part of Zone 2 London - ITV News". Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  22. "Working to the Code on the Athletes' Village" (PDF). ODA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 August 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  23. "CEEQUAL Athletes' Village - N25 Car Park". CEEQUAL. Archived from the original on 17 June 2015. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  24. "Project certificate details for Athletes Village". FSC. Archived from the original on 9 October 2011. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  25. "Award entries for Athletes Village from Considerate Constructors Scheme Database". Considerate Constructors Scheme. Archived from the original on 17 June 2015. Retrieved 8 September 2012.

Cilantro Engineering

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