Key Olympic structures set for BREEAM Excellent despite conversion challenges

Key London 2012 Olympic venues are on target to achieve BREEAM Excellent in their permanent ‘legacy’ forms, in spite of a number of changes and challenges in conversion.

The Olympic venues were designed with legacy in mind to facilitate post-games conversion and maximise sustainability and regeneration potential, but they are now demonstrating their capability to adapt to changing market conditions.

The building that was home to the Press and Broadcasting Centre during last summer’s games is being reborn as iCITY. The centre for digital and creative companies is already proving a commercial – being nearly 70 percent let, and supported by London’s largest data centre – which is presenting a significant demand for cooling.

The conversion of the former Olympic stadium, which won planning approval last month, will be very different to that envisaged in the original design. The 80,000 capacity stadium was designed to be converted to a 25,000 seat athletics venue in permanent legacy mode, by removing its upper level seating. But now, as well as becoming the home of football club West Ham, the venue is to host a range of sports including the Rugby World Cup 2015 and the 2017 World Athletics Championships, and so will need to have a flexible 60,000 capacity.

As a result, lower level seating has been redesigned to be retractable, and upper level seating will remain in place. Lesley Hodgson, associate director of sustainability for engineering consultancy Buro Happold, said: “The fixed bits of the stadium are now moving, and the bits that were going to move are now fixed.” The stadium will also have its roof extended to provide weather protection for seating and there will be other enhancements, including new landscaping and free drinking water fountains. Like the other venues, the stadium remains on target to achieve BREEAM Excellent in legacy mode, said Hodgson added.

The Aquatics Centre’s role will not change, but its capacity is being reduced with removal of the temporary seating wings on either side of the building.