Delivering London 2012: the Aquatics Centre

The Aquatics Centre for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games is an iconic venue designed by acclaimed architect Zaha Hadid. It is dominated by a spectacular 11 000 m² wave-form roof supported on just two concrete cores to the north and a 22 m wall to the south. In games time, temporary wings augment the capacity to 17 500, including a permanent capacity of 2500 seats in legacy use. Foundation solutions were challenging due to the relatively high loadings, critical nature of maintaining horizontal pool tanks and new power line tunnels underneath. Over 150 000 t of concrete was poured using an innovative mix of 40% cement replacement and up to 76% recycled aggregate, resulting in significant savings in embodied carbon dioxide.