Civil Engineering Special Issue

Volume 167 Issue CE6

Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers

Civil Engineering Special Issue 167 November 2014 Issue CE6
Page 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/cien.2014.167.6.2

Introduction
Rawlings and Caccavone

ICE Publishing: All rights reserved

Introduction
Colin Rawlings

Tony Caccavone

CH2MHill/HS2 Ltd, London, UK

Heathrow Airport Ltd, Hounslow, UK

Welcome to this third and final special issue of Civil Engineering

on the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This issue
covers the infrastructure legacy of the games, the delivery of
which was fundamental to the success of the UK bid.
You will see from these eight papers that the infrastructure
legacy goes well beyond the immediate confines of the vast new
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London the largest green
space to be created in London for over a century. It includes
long-term transport benefits, new communities, flood alleviation
and effective re-use of temporary facilities.
The first paper, by Daothong and Stubbs (2014), notes the
commitment made to host the first truly sustainable Olympic and
Paralympic Games, which was achieved by establishing a shared
vision and building strong partnerships with a variety of stakeholders. The games transformed a neglected part of London into
a thriving community, meeting numerous sustainability targets
along the way. Securing legacy operators for retained venues
almost immediately after the games is also unprecedented.
McNevin (2014) then reviews the planning and delivery of the
games legacy and describes four key influences that were vital for
success. He describes the common purpose and high levels of
collaboration among the multiple stakeholders involved in the
planning, design and delivery of games venues and infrastructure
that ultimately led to their successful legacy transformation.
Firth (2014) describes how the London Legacy Development
Corporation ensured the five new communities that form the new
E20 postcode in and around the former Olympic Park will
converge socially and economically with the rest of London. With
20 000 new dwellings to be built in the surrounding area over the
next decade, the paper concludes with the need to integrate with
existing communities and maximise connectivity.
The fourth paper, by Naish and Mason (2014), explains the
approach used to plan the long-term legacy of the park the
Olympic Delivery Authoritys designing for legacy strategy
and how the park was quickly transformed from games mode to
legacy. Delivery of the transformation works is described and the
master plan was able to incorporate design improvements during
the execution phase. The paper concludes that a three-phased
approach of games, transformation and legacy was an effective
way to allocate appropriate resources to each stage.
Pennington (2014) then looks in detail at the design and
construction of temporary platform structures used for equestrian
events at Greenwich Royal Park, comprising a combination of
steeltimber composites or interlocking plastic elements. The
design ensured there was no long-term damage to existing
grassed areas, prevented high loads impacting on tree roots and
ensured operation during significant rainfall events. Dismantling
was achieved within 7 weeks and the plastic units have been
successfully reused in a wide range of commercial and leisure
facilities in the Netherlands and the UK.
Nicholls (2014) next outlines more than 60 million of works
associated with the renovation of the 6 km derelict waterway
network in the former Olympic Park area. A new lock was the key

to reducing flood risk, controlling water levels and turning what had
been previously tidal waterways into a locked system. This in turn
created the opportunity to establish new habitats along the river
edges and integrated into adjoining developments homes, leisure
facilities, enhanced connectivity to tow paths and water space.
Palmer et al. (2014) provide more detail on managing the flood
risk at the park and surrounding urban areas. Based on 80 flood risk
assessments, the flood mitigation works led to reduced flood risk for
more than 4000 residential and commercial properties and thousands of east London residents. The paper concludes that a thorough
understanding of the baseline flood mechanism is a fundamental
part of the process of identifying appropriate mitigation.
In the final paper Waboso (2014) explores London Undergrounds 6 .5 billion investment programme prior to the games
the first declared public transport games to ensure the thousands
of athletes, spectators, officials and the media were able to move
around the capital as Londoners went about their normal
business. Key enhancements and legacy elements include upgrades to Stratford station and the Jubilee, Northern, Victoria and
Central lines, as well as improvements in reliability and accessibility across the network. He also notes that volunteers were one
of the key success stories of the games.
On this note and on behalf of the editorial panel, we would like
to thank those who helped produce this issue, especially the
authors for sharing their knowledge and experience with us. We
hope that you find the papers enjoyable and useful and that they
encourage you and your colleagues to consider sharing your own
experiences through this and other ICE Proceedings journals.

References
Daothong J and Stubbs D (2014) London 2012 legacy: creating a more
sustainable future for London and beyond. Proceedings of the Institution
of Civil Engineers Civil Engineering 167(6): 312, http://dx.doi.org/
10.1680/cien.14.00006.
Firth K (2014) London 2012 legacy: E20 creating an integrated piece of
city. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers Civil Engineering
167(6): 1925, http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/cien.14.00011.
McNevin N (2014) London 2012 legacy: principles, purpose, professionals
and collaboration. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers Civil
Engineering 167(6): 1318, http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/cien.14.00035.
Naish C and Mason S (2014) London 2012 legacy: transformation of the
Olympic Park. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers Civil
Engineering 167(6): 2632, http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/cien.14.00008.
Nicholls A (2014) London 2012 legacy: Olympic Park waterways.
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers Civil Engineering
167(6): 4045, http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/cien.14.00023.
Palmer D, Ker-Reid D, Venn N and Bruni A (2014) London 2012 legacy:
managing flood risk at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Proceedings of the
Institution of Civil Engineers Civil Engineering 167(6): 4652, http://
dx.doi.org/10.1680/cien.14.00041.
Pennington P (2014) London 2012 legacy: design and reuse of temporary
equestrian platforms. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers
Civil Engineering 167(6): 3339, http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/cien.14.00019.
Waboso D (2014) London 2012 legacy: putting London Underground on a
new track. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers Civil
Engineering 167(6): 5360, http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/cien.14.00042.