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   London 2012 Olympic Games Progress Report

Water now flowing at the new white water canoe centre for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Work is in now in the final commission phases at the Broxbourne White Water Canoe Centre; the progress keeps the venue on track to be completed later this year as the first brand new 2012 venue to be finished.

The Lee Valley White Water Centre is being built by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) near Waltham Cross in Hertfordshire and will host the canoe slalom events during the Olympic Games. Before and after 2012, the venue will be owned and managed by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority (LVRPA) as a sporting and leisure facility for canoeing and white-water rafting, as well as a major competition and training venue for elite events.

   The ODA started construction work on the venue in July 2009 and over 150 people are now working on site. Works on the new lake and competition courses have now been completed allowing water to begin flowing at the venue and testing work to begin on the canoe courses. Internal fit-out is also now underway on the two-storey facility building and landscaping works have started, keeping the venue on track to be finished later this year.

At times, heavy rains presented challenging conditions on the construction site, but building work remains on track. For the course, 10,000 m³ of soil excavated to create the venue’s finish lake and over 150,000 m³ of material put in place to form the canoe course embankments and the landscaped features of the venue.

Altogether, more than 500 concrete piles were driven up to 16 m into the ground to form the foundations of the venue facilities building and Olympic course start pool

It features an Olympic standard 300-m competition course and 1,160-m intermediate/training course, which will help create an inclusive and comprehensive sports programme in legacy from novice paddler through to elite competitors.

A specially constructed boat conveyor will transport participants to the course start in their rafts or canoes.

At the end of the raceway is the finish lake area of 10,000 m². The pumping station is integrated in a general facility building containing reception, café, changing rooms, administration offices, spectator viewing facilities and storage as well as the water pump/filtration plant.

[cont]

Seb Coe, Chair of the London 2012 Organising Committee:

“It’s really exciting to see such good progress being made in the delivery of a facility that will provide a world-class venue for Games-time and an excellent facility for elite athlete and community usage after the Games, living up to our promise of leaving a lasting legacy for sport. These images of the water at the venue show how quickly the Lee Valley White Water Centre is taking shape. We are developing a challenging Olympic course for a world class Canoe Slalom event and a community facility which will provide a thrilling new experience for beginners."

Shaun Dawson, Lee Valley Regional Park Authority Chief Executive:

“This is thrilling progress. We will start to take bookings for the Lee Valley White Water Centre this autumn and from April 2011 thousands of rafters and canoeists will be able to enjoy this adrenaline charged Centre before the Olympians arrive. The training course will provide an excellent transition facility for newcomers to the sport and enable us to cater for both competition and recreational users in legacy. As the only brand new 2012 venue to open to the public ahead of the Games, the Centre is a very tangible piece of legacy from the Games. Along with the Lee Valley White Water Centre, in legacy the LVRPA will also own and manage the VeloPark and the Hockey and Tennis centres on the Olympic Park.”

Video & Presentation by Project Manager

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