The most detailed description yet of the scale of works to deliver the venues and infrastructure needed for 2012, and the legacy benefits the large-scale investment will bring, has been unveiled as the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) published a summary of its programme delivery baseline report.

The programme baseline summary outlines the scope of works the ODA will carry out on the Olympic Park and at venues around the country in a project twice the size of Heathrow's new terminal 5 to be delivered in half the time.

The scale of the work is outlined alongside details of the legacy benefits the project will deliver.

The challenges and benefits of the project include the biggest construction site in Europe creating thousands of new jobs with a peak site workforce of 9,000, 2.5 sq km of brownfield land to be remediated the equivalent size of Hyde Park and transforming previously contaminated land into 110ha of new open space in a benchmark 21st century urban environment.


There will also be 4,000 new homes, more than 30 new bridges, 20km of roads and 8km of revitalised waterways; 5 permanent new world-class venues and the Creation of 1.3 million sq feet of legacy employment space in the media centre the equivalent size to Canary Wharf tower.

Tens of kilometres of new utilities networks are needed to provide electricity, heat, water, sewerage and gas to the legacy communities. In legacy, 20% of energy requirements will be supplied by on-site renewable energy infrastructure.

The programme scope now being published is the basis for the detailed breakdown of the ODA budget that Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell published in December, so that a budget fully aligned with scope, programme and risks is now in place a key building block to ensure that the Games are delivered on time and on budget. The report also outlines the long-term investment that is being made in this part of the Lower Lea Valley, home to some of the most deprived communities in the UK.

ODA Chief Executive David Higgins said: "Delivering the venues and infrastructure needed for 2012 will be a hugely challenging project and the scale of works outlined in this report are matched only by the enormous legacy benefits they will deliver."

Higgins said the programme is driven by legacy, with the large scale investment focussing not just on Games-time needs, but on the wider regeneration created by new venues and infrastructure around the country.

(GK/JM)