Guild Visit to Olympic Site
Visit to Olympic site
This summer a group of Kew Guild members were given a behind-the-scenes look at how the Olympic Park in East London is shaping up.
The Olympic Site at Stratford is surrounded by railway links from all parts of London including the main East Coast Line, CTRL, Docklands Light Railway and Overground (from Richmond!). The main Stadium is seen here dominating the skyline.
Given a bus tour by landscape architect Phil Askew, who is the Olympic Delivery Authority’s Project Sponsor for Parklands & Public Realm, the group were treated to views of the Olympic stadium, the impressive Velodrome and the early stages of the £19 million red steel sculpture created by Anish Kapoor, which when finished will stand at 115m high.
Anish Kapoor' tower which will be accessible to visitors during the Games.
Much of the soft landscaping in the Park runs down the sides of the waterways which cut through the site. Already well on the way to being established is The Wetland Bowl, which on completion will include 300,000 wetland plants, all produced at a Norfolk nursery, from cuttings taken in the Lea Valley. James Hitchmough of Sheffield University is also planting up areas to increase biodiversity, which Askew believes to be the “the largest installation of perennials meadows ever attempted.”
The Velodrome seen within the folds of the landscape from the wetlands of the River Lea in the north of the Site (on a different day!)
The 2012 World Gardens area was also taking shape, through the drizzle, and is due to include thousands of plant species and native woodland trees from four geographical zones: Europe and the Mediterranean, the Americas, Asia, and the southern hemisphere. This 800m herbaceous border has been designed by Sarah Price, who will oversee the planting under the overall direction of LDA Design in partnership with Hargreaves Associates.
The 2012 Herbaceous Gardens have been designed in a mixed priarie style by Sarah Price using unusual plants grown by Palmstead Nurseries in Kent.
Askew described the challenges the ODA had faced in decontaminating the site, which involved removing 40 football pitches worth of Japanese knotweed, which he said had been “buried in very deep holes, which they hoped never appeared again”.
Great things have been achieved by bringing contaminated land back into use, cleaning up canals, keeping 90 per cent of materials on site, but the Kew Guild group were somewhat surprised that only 2000 trees will be planted across the site for the Games, and 2000 after. We saw only London Planes planted in small squares across the open concourse, and it just seems a shame when taking into account the Park covers 2.5 square kilometres.
Much of the site is still very much a hard landscaper’s paradise but it is clear that the Olympic Park will change greatly in the period after the Games, which is known as “The Legacy”. Buildings for the purpose of housing athletes and journalists will becomes homes, and the open areas awaiting thousands of visitors will be developed. Very positively Askew said there is already a detailed maintenance plan in place for the landscaped areas.
