London 2012 Olympics

[Desi]

Olympic Park
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/1566/eastlondonxn5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Canary Wharf
http://img468.imageshack.us/img468/438/728canarywharf2008pic1ci4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img468.imageshack.us/img468/3716/canarywharf2008nm3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

The City
http://img468.imageshack.us/img468/1213/london4jgoo0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/7370/cityoflondon2008ed7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[wjfox2007]

No offence but this thread is rubbish - these renderings are ancient, and there's no information.

Anyway, there's already a thread for London.

[ablarc]

Has the Shard grown shorter and fatter?

[ryeler]

No offence but this thread is rubbish - these renderings are ancient, and there's no information.

Anyway, there's already a thread for London.

woah, a little critical? I think it's fine, gives insight to what's happening in a variety of areas of london. I also agree with ablarc, it does look different. Is it still being built ?

[BenL]

I don't think there's a real need for a seperate Olympics thread - especially when this topic doesn't really seem to be focused on the Games at all with its Canary Wharf and Shard renders. I believe that's an old render of the Shard, with the cancelled Minerva tower still shown. It's from the Skyscrapernews.com website which did a lot of renderings a few years back - I don't know if this is an official rendering or not.

[ryeler]

I am starting to think the same thing, but a little something on the side; it never says it is an olympic thread, it just has an olympic section, for the year 2012

[Luca]

anyhow, the "London projects" thread is way too unwieldy now, not to mention full of rants.

[Gregory Tenenbaum]

http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/7370/cityoflondon2008ed7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Where are the evil Skepsis?

Reminds me of the Dark Crystal.

How utterly ugly.

[Luca]

Well, yes, all the propsoed towers for london are ugly. I've yet to see a skyscraper of the last, oh,, 60 years that does nto look like utter shit.

[ablarc]

I've yet to see a skyscraper of the last, oh,, 60 years that does nto look like utter shit.
Bank of America, Charlotte (Cesar Pelli):

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.skyscraperpicture.com/charlotte07.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.skyscraperpicture.com/charlotte.htm&h=800&w=547&sz=64&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=U4fNQYPBUwdNAM:&tbnh=143&tbnw=98&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbank%2Bof%2Bamerica%2Bcharlotte%2Bpel li%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3DGWYA,GW YA:2005-21,GWYA:en%26sa%3DN

Deco Revival.

.

[Luca]

Bank of America, Charlotte (Cesar Pelli):
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.skyscraperpicture.com/charlotte07.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.skyscraperpicture.com/charlotte.htm&h=800&w=547&sz=64&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=U4fNQYPBUwdNAM:&tbnh=143&tbnw=98&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbank%2Bof%2Bamerica%2Bcharlotte%2Bpel li%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3DGWYA,GW YA:2005-21,GWYA:en%26sa%3DN
Deco Revival.
.

Ok, smartass..... :p

Though Pelli is no longer 'fashionable', he's done some nice quasi-deco stuff. The step-backs I really like. The 'crown' is a bit...'underpsecified' though, you must admit. But yeh, better than modt stuff these days.

I'd like to see someone have the cojones to build a tower with the detailing/spirit of, say, a Chanin Building. I bet the starchitects and their pathetic lackeys like Orussoif would wail like bashees, but everyone else would love it. ;)

Oh, well, my shop's being taken over, maybe I'll get the boot and finally make the jump to developer one of these day...

[ZippyTheChimp]

anyhow, the "London projects" thread is way too unwieldy now, not to mention full of rants.Rants will quickly follow. It just means two threads for the moderators to police.

London 2012 means the Olympics. If this thread becomes a 2nd London Projects thread, it will be closed.

[ZippyTheChimp]

^
Read the posting guidelines in Forum Rules of Conduct. Your images were too large. I would have fixed them except for you sily remark that a Mod must have changed the title of your thread.

Resize your images, or post them as links in the proper thread, not here.

[Gregory Tenenbaum]

I knew that that tower reminded me of something. And not just the Dark Crystal either.

It looks a little like the Ryugyong Hotel, yet to be completed, in the North Korean capital.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryugyong_Hotel

[Desi]

^
Read the posting guidelines in Forum Rules of Conduct. Your images were too large. I would have fixed them except for you sily remark that a Mod must have changed the title of your thread.

Resize your images, or post them as links in the proper thread, not here.


lolzzz but its true init, i didnt write that, so who else ?

[Luca]

Rants will quickly follow. It just means two threads for the moderators to police.

London 2012 means the Olympics. If this thread becomes a 2nd London Projects thread, it will be closed.

Just ban Greggy T from posting on threads that in any way have to do with Britain and/or mention anything having to do with the British isles :D :D :D

[Gregory Tenenbaum]

Just ban Greggy T from posting on threads that in any way have to do with Britain and/or mention anything having to do with the British isles :D :D :D

Well it does look a lot like that North Korean half finished hotel.

As for that comment Luca, well, all I can say is that I would comment about any country that I had feelings for as I do, in the way that I feel - and I don't see a lot of Italians or others here wanting to prove that their **** is bigger than our ****, even if it is. The Brits here seem to be very good at that.

[GreenwichSE10]

well um maybe they been ..i dont know provoked by some attention seeking clueless anglophobe half-wit who talks complete bollocks.

[dragonslayer]

Well it does look a lot like that North Korean half finished hotel.

As for that comment Luca, well, all I can say is that I would comment about any country that I had feelings for as I do, in the way that I feel - and I don't see a lot of Italians or others here wanting to prove that their **** is bigger than our ****, even if it is. The Brits here seem to be very good at that.

Tut.

[lofter1]

NBC reported this morning that the budget to prepare for the 2012 Olympics has quadrupled form the initial cost to a whopping $9 Billion Pounds!

NYC can count our lucky stars. We'd never have been able to do (or pay for) what London is doing.

[Alonzo-ny]

That has been the figure for a long time. Why is getting reported now? I can neither confirm or deny what the original budget was.

[Alonzo-ny]

Also, $9 billion pounds :p.

[lofter1]

My coffee hadn't kicked in yet :o

[lofter1]

But with caffeine I've since found THIS (http://home.inklingmarkets.com/markets/5201):



The orginal government budget for the London Olympics was £2.375 billion

In March 2007 The Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, told MPs the cost of the games had risen to £9.3 billion.(The Scotsman, 16 March 2007)

Wikipedia has some specifics:

2012 Summer Olympics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Summer_Olympics)



Financing

The costs of mounting the Games are separate from those for building the venues and infrastructure, and redeveloping the land for the Olympic Park. While the Games are privately funded, the venues and Park costs are met largely by public money.

On 15 March 2007 Tessa Jowell announced to the House of Commons a budget of £5.3 billion to cover building the venues and infrastructure for the Games, at the same time announcing the wider regeneration budget for the Lower Lea Valley budget at £1.7 billion.

On top of this, she announced various other costs including an overall additional contingency fund of £2.7 billion, security and policing costs of £600 million, VAT of £800 million and elite sport and Paralympic funding of nearly £400 million. According to these figures, the total for the Games and the regeneration of the East London area, is £9.345 billion. Then Mayor Ken Livingstone pledged the Games Organising Committee would make a profit.[26]

The costs for staging the Games (£2 billion) are funded from the private sector by a combination of sponsorship, merchandising, ticketing and broadcast rights. This budget is raised and managed by the London 2012 Organising Committee. According to Games organisers, the funding for this budget broadly breaks down as:

63% from Central Government;
23% from National Lottery
13% from the Mayor of London and the London Development Agency

On 18 August 2007 The Belfast Telegraph reported that jubilation over winning the right to stage the Olympic Games was becoming more muted as realisation dawns on the public of the enormous costs involved in creating facilities for the athletes.[27] Grassroot sport cuts will fund the Olympics, government figures suggested on 19 August 2007.[28]

In November 2007, Edward Leigh MP, criticised the organisers for significantly under-estimating the cost of staging the games, suggesting they had either "acted in bad faith or were incompetent".[29]

On 10 December 2007 Tessa Jowell announced confirmation of the budget announced earlier in 2007. In June 2007, the Ministerial Funders’ Group (established to manage the allocation of contingency to the ODA within the overall budget) met and agreed a first allocation of contingency to the ODA, being £360m out of the £500m of initial contingency announced in March, to enable the ODA to manage early cost pressures.

Following its second meeting on 26 November 2007, the Funders’ Group has now agreed a baseline budget and scope proposed by the ODA. The total budgeted base cost to be met by the public sector funding package remains at £6.090bn including tax and excluding general programme contingency as announced in March. This includes the allocation to the ODA of the remaining £140m from the initial £500m contingency announced in March.[30]

There have, however, been concerns over how the Olympics are to be funded. In February 2008, a London Assembly culture and sport committee report expressed concerns over the funding of the games taking away money from London's sports and arts groups.[31] There have also been complaints that funding towards the Olympics has been to the detriment of funding other areas of the UK. In Wales, there has been criticism from Plaid Cymru about the games depriving Wales of money, by using UK-wide funding rather than English funding.[32] The Wales on Sunday newspaper claimed former UK Prime Minister , Tony Blair broke his promise not to use National Lottery funding for the Olympic games.[33][34]

[Alonzo-ny]

I wonder when that 2.35bn figure is from. I am confused as to why NBC has decided to report on this as news now. Must have been a slow day.

[Alonzo-ny]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/6453575.stm

Aha, the original figure does not include infrastructure costs, the 'contingency fund' and probably some of those other costs as well. Undoubtedly the cost has gone up but it certainly has not quadrupled. Bad reporting I say.

[lofter1]

Figures grab viewers' interest (especially if the government is spending). NBC is simply starting to promo their Olympic coverage (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/07/sports/olympics-nbc-s-olympic-run-is-extended-to-2012-with-2-billion-bid.html?pagewanted=1) 2 years from now.

Vancouver 2010 winds down - London 2012 amps up.

[londonlawyer]

Regardless of the money spent, London is expediting gentrification of a formerly forlorn area and is adding great projects. Moreover, it's getting a "Keynesian"-boost during a miserable economic period. NY certainly could have used this economic boost during these times. Also, had NY won the Olympics, real development of the Hudson Yards would be underway. In reality, as with every grandiose project planned in NY, nothing will happen at the Yards for decades, and the area will remain a dump with pockets of lame projects rising amidst the body shops and tenements.

Vast sums spent on Olympic developments in cities like London or NY -- unlike places like Atlanta -- are a good investment.

[lofter1]

And paid for with what in NYC? We never needed the Stadium in Hudson Yards, and it (without the towers) would probably be the only big legacy of those games. And do you really think the 7 Line extension will be ready by summer of 2012?

NYC dodged a bullet. We'll see, after the fact, how London truly fares economically.

Remember Athens (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1036373/Abandoned-derelict-covered-graffiti-rubbish-What-left-Athens-9billion-Olympic-glory.html).

[Alonzo-ny]

London will be fine. As LL said, an area in need of regeneration is getting alot of investment. Add to that much needed infrastructure. I believe that one of the reasons London won was because it had very good plans for the legacy. It will be nothing like Athens.

[londonlawyer]

Money would have been raised as it will be in London.

I absolutely guarantee that in 25 years, the most that the Yards will have is a platform. When the economy revives, even if there's a tenant interested in the Yards, moronic New Yorkers will file lawsuits to block the proposals, and it will be delayed to the point that another recession occurs and the proposed tenant loses interest. As I said, random, crap residential projects will rise amidst the slums.

A city with grand ambitions (and the will to implement them), like London can use an occasion like the Olympics as a catalyst for development. The same is not true for NY, which -- like a pig -- prides itself in its filth

[ablarc]

We'll see, after the fact, how London truly fares economically.

Remember Athens (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1036373/Abandoned-derelict-covered-graffiti-rubbish-What-left-Athens-9billion-Olympic-glory.html).
Being from the British press, that cautionary story is as much about London as Athens.

Maybe it ought to be in one of the rah-rah London threads.

[Alonzo-ny]

Saying what happened in Athens will happen in London is sort of preposterous. For one thing the legacy planning in London is very strong. The area that the Olympics are being held is already becoming a new London CBD. The costs are also not spiralling out of control. I read alot of different press on the 2012 Olympics and absolutely no-one is worried about this.

I should also point out that the Daily Mail is toilet paper. They always write stories like this to scare the public. Typical British press doom-mongering.

[lofter1]

... NY, which -- like a pig -- prides itself in its filth


As usual, a breath of fresh air.

London had the sense not to propose a stadium on some of their most valued land. NYC on the other hand ...

Per the London <> Athens comparison: just raising a caution. But of course, we should all trust that the financial wizards know what's best, both for the citizens as a whole and for the long term. No?

[ForestHillsGardens]

The thrid time ayy. The IOC surely needs to stop giving London this game for at least 5 decades. I feel NYC should bid for the 2024 games, maybe a joint Philly - NYC or Syracuse-NYC Bid it'll greatly stimulate the NY, NJ and PA Area...

[Alonzo-ny]

This is coming from the America that wants another World Cup already? The last London Olympics were 64 years ago.

[nick-taylor]

The thrid time ayy. The IOC surely needs to stop giving London this game for at least 5 decades. I feel NYC should bid for the 2024 games, maybe a joint Philly - NYC or Syracuse-NYC Bid it'll greatly stimulate the NY, NJ and PA Area...2012 is officially the first time London has been 'awarded' and hosted the games it bid for.

Rome was due to host the games in 1908, but when Vesuvius erupted in 1906, the Italian authorities siphoned funds to help with reconstruction work. London was the only city that had the ability to step up to the challenge of preparing and hosting a games in two years.

London was due to host the 1944 Olympics, but a certain war meant that it was cancelled. Instead London was given the 1948 Olympics.




Comparisons between London and Athens are rather odd at the current stage;
- Construction on venues has either been completed or is ahead of schedule (London will be ready long before Beijing was); whereas Athens had to mothball construction work to meet the deadline (and then only two months before the opening ceremony);
- The majority of transport infrastructure is already in place, and additional upgrades and extensions (Stratford International DLR line + East London Line, etc...) are due to be complete by the end of this year, again no concern over cutting it short;
- Several arenas and stadiums already have uses (eg Wimbledon, the 02 Arena, Wembley, etc...), while some arenas are temporary constructions (eg Basketball Arena, Dressage Course, etc...) and as such won't become white elephants. Permanent arenas/stadiums such as the Aquatic Centre and Olympic Stadium are being built with temporary extensions (eg Olympic Stadium reduced from 80,000 > 25,000, the Aquatic Centre from 17,500 to 2,500, etc...) so that post-2012 they can be reduced in capacity to become manageable facilities that can be used efficiently and more frequently; both Athens and even Beijing failed here;
- Another difference is that the Olympic Park is a catalyst to regenerate a vast area with potential for Stratford to become London's next major business and residential district to accomodate a significant portion of London's population growth.

We'll be able to make more accurate comparisons post-Olympic & Paralympic games, when construction work on the legacy plan is in full swing, but so far I would say that London and Athens share little in common.

[ForestHillsGardens]

@nick-taylor:
Well, we as New Yorkers need to get ready for the Olympics quicker. We need to act diligent like China, like Vancouver, like other cities that are more 'role model' than New York. I know we could make it, it is not about how London is and/or Athens is, it is about how we could have hope, courage, unity and vision. New York is the leading tourist city in the world, and we definitely need to show that an Olympic here is possible too in the 21st Century, not the 22nd Century.

[Degsy]

@nick-taylor:
New York is the leading tourist city in the world

Errr...no its not.

[futurecity]

Olympics would be great in NY --- I think a city of NY's standing and history should get them at least once. If Ny doesn't think it can put on the greatest show on earth, it is a weak city and should not have such a grand standing amongst the world's greats.

[lofter1]

NYC thinks it can host the Olympics (look at the big local effort for nabbing 2012).

The IOC thought otherwise, at least when comparing NYC's proposal to others. The US venture in Iraq didn't help.

[londonlawyer]

As usual, a breath of fresh air....

It's realistic. I wish it were not true, but in NY (apart from the mayor), there's no desire to beautify the city. People oppose it and call it Disneyfication and yearn for the good old days when NY was a cess pool.

In addition, when entities like Hines seek to build landmarks, people line up to oppose them and schmucks like Amanda Burden imperiously attempt to kill them.

[lofter1]

Amanda Burden is trying to "kill" the Nouvel / Hines tower?

Hardly.

Politics plays a part in everything in NYC. The CPC has approved the Hines project.

[londonlawyer]

It seems that Hines will proceed. However, when she imperiously decided to take it upon herself to reject a world-class design and to reduce the height, she very well could have killed it since Hines would have had less square feet. Nonetheless, she did not care.

Anyway, I don't want to detract from this thread which is about London's greatness.

[zupermaus]

at the moment:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2772/4307891718_f8f9fc44c5_o.jpg


Entire complex. The parkland alone will be larger than Central Park:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2740/4104118052_6d2d74746a_o.jpg

[nick-taylor]

NYC thinks it can host the Olympics (look at the big local effort for nabbing 2012).

The IOC thought otherwise, at least when comparing NYC's proposal to others. The US venture in Iraq didn't help.A big reason as to why London won the 2012 Olympics was quite simple - instead of presenting what the city could do, it delivered what the IOC wanted which was a focus on sustainability.

This winning strategy has been repeated in other successful bidding events (cricket world cup, both rugby union & league world cups', the champions league final, etc...) several times, the result of which will see a 'Golden Decade of Sport' over the next few years. The icing on the cake will hopefully be Britain hosting the 2018 Football World Cup, but it would be foolish to become complacent that we 'should' get the WC.

Iraq had nothing to do with the bidding process for the 2012 Olympics; because if it did London wouldn't have won the rights because of Britains' participation in the ME theatre.

[ablarc]

Entire complex. The parkland alone will be larger than Central Park...
What are you talking about? The space between the buildings?

[nick-taylor]

What are you talking about? The space between the buildings?Pre-Olympics most of the site around Stratford was contaminated railway lands and dominated by decaying industrial units. A large chunk of this decontaminated land has been taken up by the Stratford International HSR station, the Stratford City development and of course the Olympic stadiums and arenas.

The areas immediately adjacent to the River Lea (Lee) which runs through several channels on a north-south axis through the Stratford City/Olympic sites is to become the new park. Of course unlike Central Park the dimensions of the Olympic Park aren't confined by a simple rectangle and mimic much of London's random organic growth and that of its waterways.

The result is that at some points the park is essentially a slither of greenery alongside either banks of the River Lea (Lee), but at other points over a km wide.

http://i.thisislondon.co.uk/i/pix/2008/03/page_011_500x532.jpg

Depending on where you source your figures, the size will range from 500-800 acres but a key difference is that the Olympic Park (or the Queen Elizabeth II Park as it may eventually be known as post-Olympics) would be the 'lower section' of a far larger existing 10,000 acre green 'wedge' that runs through north-east London. Vision Central Park as the most southern stretch of a much larger park that stretches up to Yonkers.

At the current moment it is hard to envision where the greenery will be because most of the site is a vast construction site, but several thousand trees are currently being grown off-site to mature for the Olympics. Off the top of my head it is the biggest urban park to be built in Europe for around 100 years.

http://www.london2012.com/transform/2032435/m460x/parkland-trees.jpg

The following pics illustrate the eventual post-Olympics park and surrounding developments at Stratford City (non-white buildings) which are a key ingredient to ensuring that the Olympic sites become a focal point for a new London community and not randomly dropped as they were in Athens and Beijing.

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/7205/80463465un9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/80463465un9.jpg/1/w1280.png (http://g.imageshack.us/img513/80463465un9.jpg/1/)

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/8232/54682899mp0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/54682899mp0.jpg/1/w1280.png (http://g.imageshack.us/img9/54682899mp0.jpg/1/)

http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/6669/17573198ho1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/17573198ho1.jpg/1/w1280.png (http://g.imageshack.us/img242/17573198ho1.jpg/1/)

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/3682/57623628vw5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/57623628vw5.jpg/1/w1255.png (http://g.imageshack.us/img502/57623628vw5.jpg/1/)