From reducing carbon emissions to minimizing food waste, London 2012 Olympics have set out to be the greenest games of modern times.
During construction, the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) set the most stringent demands around sustainability in the design, planning and delivery of the Olympic Park, and LOCOG (London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games) also put sustainability at the heart of staging the event itself.
The result has been ground-breaking reductions in CO2 emission and new approaches to venue design, recycling, rainwater harvesting and supply chain management on the Park – while LOCOG’s work has become the basis for a new international standard: the benchmark for future global sporting events.
Praised by the United Nations and the Independent Commission for Sustainable London 2012 for its approach, some examples of sustainability in action during the London 2012 project include:
Sustainable Design and Venue Technology
- Unique design of the Olympic Stadium enabled it to be created with just 10,000 tonnes of steel – the lightest ever
- The Velodrome has been built with 100% sustainably sourced timber, and featuring unique meshing that holds roof in place with a third less steel
- 88 ‘light pipes’ in the Copper Box let natural light into venue, achieving annual energy savings of up to 40%
- Rainwater harvesting system in the Copper Box and filter backwash measure at the Aquatics Centre are reducing water consumption by 40%
Transport and Supply Chain Management
- 64% of construction materials were transported to the Olympic Park by rail or water, thereby reducing the project’s carbon footprint
- London 2012 is the first genuine ‘public transport Games’ and includes the Active Travel Programme to get tens of thousands of people cycling and walking to venues
- Centralized procurement, early supply chain integration and extensive trials and testing of various sustainable concrete mixes, were key to reducing the overall environmental impact of concrete on the Park
- LOCOG will be providing14 million sustainably sourced meals during the Games, showcasing the best of British food and featuring Red Tractor Farm Assured, MSC certified fish and certified Fairtrade produce
Waste Management
- 98% of material from Olympic Park demolition work was reclaimed for reuse and recycling – exceeding a target of 90%
- 2 million tonnes of soil were cleansed of pollutants and more than 80% of soil was reused on site in the UK’s largest ever clean-up of contaminated land
- Use of temporary structures that can be dismantled and re-used after the Games – in particular, the Basketball arena, one of the biggest temporary venues ever built for a Games
- 4,000 colour-coded recycling bins and composting bins are being placed through venues and Olympic Park, aiming to achieve 70% re-use, recycling or composting during the Games
Improving Local Ecology
- Carving out a new ecology of wildlife, plants and woodlands, the 250 acres of parkland is one of the biggest urban parks to be built in Europe for more than a century
- It has been designed to mitigate the effects of climate change and increased rainfall in urban areas by acting as a sponge to help manage the water flow to the Thames
- More than 4,000 trees, 300,000 wetland plants and over 8 kilometres of waterway for local residents and visitors to enjoy. There are more than 650 bird and bat boxes installed across the Olympic Park
- Ecological aims have also been incorporated into venue design – e.g., Main Press Centre has a ‘brown roof’, which uses seeds and logs reclaimed from the Olympic Park construction site to create new wildlife habitats
Source: Government Olympic Communication (GOC), U.K.
