Delivering London 2012: parklands and waterways

The parklands and waterways are the natural, living heart of the Olympic Park in London. Their inception, design, delivery, management, maintenance and monitoring realised many innovative responses to the requirements of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, as well as those of the many people who will live in and around the park after the games. This paper describes the brief and planning, statutory and biodiversity requirements for the project. It then describes design and delivery, from enabling works through to soils and planting, hard landscape, waterways, wetlands and flood protection. Procurement, contracts, cost and programme performance are considered. Finally, the paper presents key achievements and innovations in delivering an integrated landscape, built form and engineering infrastructure, the key challenges met and lessons learned.