Olympic Village – almost ready

I have just got back from a visit to the Olympic Village. I went to meet the team from Cofely Engineering (GDF Suez) that built the 17km long decentralised energy network that supplies all of the electricity, heating and cooling to the Park from two energy plants as well as the Westfield Shopping Centre and 700 apartment ‘Genesis’ development in Stratford. So whatever you hear to the contrary on TV, it’s Cofely Engineering ‘what did it’ not A.N.Other energy company.

During the visit I had an excellent opportunity to see how well the Park is developing and from what I could see, it is very nearly complete with the exception of planting and minor works. In fact there is an army of Massey Fergusson tractors and trailers on site this week planting up the landscaping.

I was struck by the design of many of the buildings, especially Zaha Hadid’s Aquatics Centre which will be an iconic building long after the Games have finished. It will look even better when the boxy wings are removed. Some of the temporary buildings such as the Basketball Arena are really clever too – this one will be relocated after the Games.  

The Athlete’s Village will be converted into more than 2500 homes after the Games with a sustainable energy supply.

To be honest with you I wasn’t so keen on Mittal’s “ArcelorMittal Orbit” , the 115-metre-high observation tower. Aptly nicknamed “Mittal’s Helter Skelter” it will probably grow on me but it is definitely a talking point.

The western europe’s biggest MacDonald’s didn’t really inspire me either – but it is built from sustainable materials.

Finally a mention of security at the Park – something that is probably in all of our minds. It took me more than an hour to get on to the Park, but I was really pleased to see how thorough the G4S security team on the site was.