Olympic authority unveils designs for 2012 stadium

The design for the eagerly awaited London Olympic Stadium has been made public by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA).

The 80,000 seat, predominantly steel, stadium will include 55,000 demountable seats, a cable-stayed roof sheltering two thirds of the crowd and a fabric curtain wall, which will wrap around the structure to provide extra protection from the elements.

After the Games, the Stadium’s upper tier and roof will be dismantled, with the lower tier remaining as a 25,000-seat home for athletics and other sporting and community uses. The steel roof structure will be scaled down and then re-erected above the smaller stadium, while all the steel and materials used for the demountable structure will be recycled or reused.

The design and build team for the project includes Sir Robert McAlpine, architect HOK Sport, structural engineer Buro Happold and Watson Steel Structures, which will be supplying and erecting approximately 12,000t of structural steel.