The stadium will host matches at the 2015 Rugby World Cup
Balfour Beatty has won the £154m main contract to transform the London 2012 Olympic Stadium into a legacy mode multi-use venue and permanent home to West Ham United Football Club.
The contractor fought off bids from the stadium’s original builder, Sir Robert McAlpine, widely tipped to land the conversion deal, Buckingham, ISG and Shepherd. The contract was awarded by the E20 Stadium Partnership set up between the London Legacy Development Corporation and Newham Council.
The contract encompasses the £41m stadium roof contract Balfour Beatty was awarded in the summer and will involve constructing a warm-up track, spectator and hospitality facilities, plus external landscaping. Work will begin on site in early 2014 and is due for completion in spring 2016.
The multi-use venue will host five matches during the Rugby World Cup 2015 and become the permanent home of West Ham United Football Club from 2016. It will also become the new national competition stadium for athletics in the UK, hosting regional and national age group championships, as well as elite international events. A new community athletics track will also be provided next to the main stadium.
Balfour Beatty expects to employ up to 400 people during construction and is committed to providing apprenticeships to 7% of the total workforce. It will also work with Workplace, Newham Council’s employment service, to employ local people where possible.
Sustainable construction methods used on site will include recycling features of the existing stadium into the new scheme and the re-use of crushed demolition material.
Once reconfigured, the stadium’s cable net roof will be the largest cantilevered roof in the world, reaching 84 metres wide at its deepest point and covering every stadium seat, and also improving acoustics and the spectator experience.
“This is another milestone in the development of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. We go into 2014 on track to deliver a world class venue that, when it fully opens in 2016, can be used year round to host a whole range of sporting, cultural and community events.”
Dennis Hone, CEO, Legacy Corporation
Commenting on the contract award, Balfour Beatty CEO Andrew McNaughton said: “We are delighted to be continuing our activity on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park supporting the legacy commitment made as part of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. During construction, our firm commitment to the use of local labour and the creation of apprenticeships will continue to benefit the local community and the wider industry and upon completion, the stadium will provide a first-class sporting and cultural facility for many generations to come which Balfour Beatty is proud to be associated with.”
Dennis Hone, CEO of the Legacy Corporation, added: “This is another milestone in the development of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. We go into 2014 on track to deliver a world class venue that, when it fully opens in 2016, can be used year round to host a whole range of sporting, cultural and community events. The Stadium will be a truly remarkable legacy here in east London.”
Balfour Beatty has already delivered a range of projects for the London 2012 Olympic Games, including the Zaha Hadid-designed Aquatics Centre. This involved building two 50m-long pools with moveable floors and walls, plus separate diving areas and capacity for 17,500 spectators. It also completed the legacy conversion of the venue into a facility for the local community through the removal of the temporary seating stands, and their replacement with glazed elevations, leaving permanent seating for 2,500.
The contractor also delivered mechanical and electrical work for the London 2012 Water Polo Arena; £150m of major roads and bridges packages designed to provide connections across the Olympic park, including the rail over-bridge, three land bridges, three footbridges and four footbridges; and the design and construction of new sidings at Orient Way, East London, a key logistics site for the construction of the Olympic Park.
Outside of London, Balfour Beatty completed the conversion of the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy ready for Olympic use, which involved construction of a permanent 150m slipway, a race-boat parking area, race-boat lifting facilities, and race-boat moorings, sheltered by a wave protection structure.
