An overhead photo published by the Met Police Helicopter service last Friday gives us a glimpse on how work is progressing on the Olympic Stadium or the Queen Elizabeth Park Stadium as it is now supposed to be called.
Work commenced last November to prepare the Queen Elizabeth Park Stadium for it’s transformation into a multi-purpose stadium and the new home of West Ham United. The refurbishment has been designed by Populos who were the original architects for the London 2012 Olympic Stadium.Imtech G&H won the £25m contract for electrical and plumbing work in the redesigned stadium which in now underway.
As you can see from the picture the original roof has now been removed exposing the black and seats below and reinforcement work in the form of the large white blocks at the top of the structure is ongoing by Balfour Beatty to support the new £41m roof.When it is completed in 2015 the roof will be twice its original size to allow all-weather protection for spectators and improved acoustics for football matches & concerts. A combination of solid and transparent roof coverings will allow natural light to flow through. The roof utilities a gravity-stressed structure spanning 84m and will provide cover for football fans sitting above the existing running track. In September an extensive cable net system will be fitted to support the new roof which will be constructed on the floor of stadium and then lifted into position.Several 600-tonne cranes operating within the stadium will then tandem lift the supporting roof steel work into place.
The main £100m main conversion contract was also awarded to Balfour Beatty, Although the new roof, electrical and plumbing contracts are expected to be completed by Spring 2015 in time for the Rugby World Cup the retractable seating will not be completed by then.The retractable seating project is scheduled to commence after the end of the Rugby world cup but will be hopefully completed by the start of the 2016 football season.The running track is currently buried beneath a protective layer of synthetic sheet and crushed gravel to protect it during building works.
A press officer for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park revealed that LLDC are in the process of short-listing a Stadium operator and they hope to make an announcement on this in the Autumn. On naming rights for the Stadium they say “We are currently out to market for a naming rights partner for the Stadium. We are hoping to make an announcement on this in early 2015”.
West Ham are technically the winter anchor stadium concessionaires rather than anchor tenants with UK Athletics holding the Summer anchor tenancy. It is important to understand the difference as normally a concessionaire has less rights. A concessionaire is defined is as a business that has been given the right to sell something on property owned by someone else while a tenant is a person or a business that pays rent to use or occupy land, a building, or other property owned by another.
The Olympic Stadium cost tax payers £429m to build for the London 2012 Olympics. It is estimated up to £200m of contracts will be awarded before the Stadium is ready for the first football to be kicked in 2016.
The photo below was taken by a West Ham fan from the Orbit recently. West Ham are expected to give regular updates on their website from the autumn. Meanwhile for £15 you can check progress out for yourself by visiting the 114 metre Orbit arcelormittalorbit.com
