Top Team Chosen to Design Olympic Park
David Higgins, chief executive-designate of the Olympic Delivery Authority, today announced the winning team chosen to design the Olympic Park and its associated infrastructure.
The announcement was made at today’s inaugural 2012 Business Summit, organised by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport at Cabot Hall, Canary Wharf.
The team, chosen through a competitive tendering process, brings to the project an outstanding range of talent in areas including architecture, landscape design and engineering. They will play a key role in turning London’s Olympic vision into reality, as well as setting the framework for the regeneration of the Lower Lea Valley in East London.
The EDAW consortium, together with Arup and Atkins will form an integrated team to develop the design.
The EDAW consortium, which produced the award-winning masterplan that helped London win the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, comprises: EDAW PLC, Buro Happold, Foreign Office Architects, HOK Sport, and Allies & Morrison.
The team, led by Jason Prior, Principal of EDAW, will work with the Interim Olympic Delivery Authority to further develop the Olympic Park masterplan and begin to design all the infrastructure elements that will make up the Park including utilities, waterways, drainage, landscape, roads and bridges. The plans currently have outline planning permission, granted on 1 October 2004, and further detailed planning applications will be required.
The team will not design the Olympic venues or Athletes’ Village, which will be tendered separately.
David Higgins, Chief executive-designate of the Olympic Delivery Authority, said: ‘I am delighted to announce this appointment. I’ve only been in post a short time and I appreciate the work of the Interim ODA and London Development Agency team that managed the appointment process. It means I can get to grips with the critical priorities straight away.
‘Getting the site infrastructure and landscape right is a key task for the Olympic Delivery Authority over the next two years. It is not only critical for the Games but also to frame one of the most significant regeneration legacies for a generation.
‘This will create a major new Park for London that after the Games will become a new quarter of the capital for Londoners to live, work and play.’
Jason Prior, Principal, EDAW, said: ‘The plans that we worked so hard to put together for the bid are now going to be taken forward. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for any landscape architect and I am absolutely thrilled.’
Sebastian Coe, Chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) said: “This is an exciting announcement and I look forward to working with the EDAW consortium. This project, which demonstrates that we are on course with the delivery of our plans, is all about creating an attractive environment for the centrepiece of the Games, which will be fully accessible for the community of East London for generations to come.”
Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, said: ‘One of the main reasons I backed London’s bid for the Games was because of the enormous regeneration and legacy it will bring to London. The EDAW team that did such a fantastic job during the bid will also bring truly world-class design to the Lower Lea Valley that will inspire the wider development of East London. This appointment is critical in helping us shape the long-term legacy of the London Games.’
Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell said: ‘200 days on from Singapore and again we are delivering. This contract is a vital part of the planning of the Olympic Park and I look forward to seeing the innovative designs and engineering concepts from EDAW and their partners. The Games are already starting to become a reality.’
Notes to Editors
1. Until the Olympic Delivery Authority is established by the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Bill, the Interim ODA is formally part of the London Development Agency.
2. A core team of masterplanning consultants will co-locate with the Interim Olympic Delivery Authority at Canary Wharf.
3. New artist impressions of the Olympic Park are available. Please contact the press office for high resolution copies.
Media Enquiries
Contact the Interim Olympic Delivery Authority Press Office on 020 32012 700 or Liz Crawshaw 07812 103624, Samantha Arditti 07815 778798
Background on individual contractors:
EDAW PLC
EDAW is an international multi-disciplinary practice specialising in regeneration, masterplanning and design. The European region is led from London with offices in Manchester and Edinburgh. Notable projects include the rebuilding of Manchester City Centre, creating a vision for Blackpool, including the redesign of its Promenade, and designing the public realm of Liverpool's Pier Head, as well as leading the masterplan for the Kings Waterfront in Liverpool. EDAW also led the team to deliver the regeneration framework for the Lower Lea Valley which supported London's bid for hosting the Olympic Games in 2012.
Worldwide, the firm is known for its involvement in previous Olympic Games such as Salt Lake City 2002 (Cross Country Biathalon Venue), Sydney 2000 (Newington Olympic Village) and Atlanta 1996 (Centennial Olympic Park).
Buro Happold
Buro Happold is a leading international multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy and part of the team that developed and delivered the masterplan for the Lower Lea Valley and 2012 Olympic Bid.
Our in-depth understanding of the engineering, infrastructure and sustainability aspects of regeneration projects will enable us to help create the setting for the 2012 Games as well as new opportunities for the local community both during the Games and afterwards.
Relevant experience includes our work on the regeneration plans for Wembley, Greenwich Peninsula, Sports Campus Ireland, Arsenal FC’s new Emirates Stadium, New Millennium Experience in Greenwich, and a number of major international development projects.
Foreign Office Architects
Foreign Office Architects (FOA), is recognized as one of the most creative architectural firms internationally, deftly integrating architecture, urban design, and landscape architecture in their projects. They have produced numerous critically-acclaimed and award-winning international projects, most notably the Yokohama Ferry Terminal in Japan. In 2003, FOA won the competition to design a new music centre for the BBC in London. Other built projects include the South East Coastal Park and Auditoriums in Barcelona, Spain, the Bluemoon Hotel in Groningen, The Netherlands, a Police Headquarters building in La Villajoyosa, Spain, and the Spanish Pavilion in the 2005 Aichi International Expo in Japan.
FOA projects under construction include, in Spain, a theatre building in Torrevieja, a technology centre in Logroño, and social housing in Madrid. The practice is also working on other major commissions including a college building and a large office complex in London, a John Lewis Department Store and Cineplex in Leicester, large-scale office developments in Barcelona and Amsterdam as well as a number of other retail commissions.
HOK Sport
HOK sport architecture is an international practice focused on design excellence. The firm's current portfolio includes Emirates Stadium, Wembley Stadium, Wimbledon Centre Court and the O2 Arena. Their Olympic design experience includes the masterplan and overlay for the Sydney Olympic Park and Darling Harbour venues, Salt Lake City Winter Olympics and the Palasport Speed Skating Oval for Turin 2006.
Allies and Morrison
Allies and Morrison is one of the country's leading architectural practices, based in its own building in Southwark Street, winner of the 2004 RIBA London Building of the Year Award. In London, the practice's recent work includes the BBC Media Village at White City, the new Chelsea College of Art campus, the City Lit and the public landscape at Tate Britain.
Current projects include the restoration of the Royal Festival Hall, the residential conversion of Highbury Stadium, a new planetarium for the Royal Observatory Greenwich, the new home for the Rambert Dance Company, and the IPC building at Bankside. The practice are also masterplanners for King's Cross Central and Brent Cross Cricklewood, two of London's largest regeneration projects.
Arup
Arup is a global firm of planners, designers, engineers and business consultants providing a diverse range of professional services to clients around the world. The firm is the creative force behind many of the world’s most innovative and sustainable buildings, transport and civil engineering projects. Established 60 years ago, the firm exerts a significant influence on the built environment and has more than 7000 employees, based in 70 offices in 32 countries, working on up to 10,000 projects at any one time. Arup has three global business areas – buildings, infrastructure and consulting – and our multi-disciplinary approach means that any given project may involve people from any or all of the sectors or regions in which we operate. Our fundamental aim is to achieve excellence in all we do by bringing together the best professionals in the world to meet our clients’ needs.
Arup has played a major role in shaping and transforming London in recent years. The firm secured the Channel Tunnel Rail Link route alignment in the early 1990s, which established Stratford as an international transport hub and has been involved in the delivery of this initiative since then. Arup has been a significant force behind the Thames Gateway, Stratford City and Lea Valley urban regeneration strategies, as well as undertaking the cost-benefit analysis that formed the basis of the UK Government's support for the London 2012 Olympic Games bid. Arup was significantly involved in the Sydney Olympics, Beijing Olympics, the Manchester Commonwealth Games and the bids for both the Manchester and Capetown Olympics.
Atkins
Atkins is Europe's largest multi-disciplinary consultant and the world's fourth largest design firm. The company employs 2,000 engineers within 20 miles of Stratford and has an impressive East London pedigree - Atkins was the lead consultant for the major project to regenerate the Greenwich Peninsula, assisted in the master planning of the development of London City Airport and devised the regeneration framework for the Leamouth area of East London.
