It’s been two years since London was flooded with tourists and athletes ready to battle it out at the 2012 Olympic Games. These days, in between colour runs, sunbathers and swimmers visiting the London Aquatics Centre, it can feel a little empty. However, in an attempt to revitalise the Stratford hype Boris Johnson has unveiled plans to boost the economic growth and cultural attraction of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park with – wait for it – ‘Olympicopolis’.
Yes, we agree the name needs work, but the plans sound pretty epic. This new cultural hub will be designed by a team of architects, planners, landscape designers and engineers who will be chosen by a newly launched international design competition. The winners will be handed the challenge of showcasing history, science, technology, craft and design and will be chosen by March next year.
Boris reckons this will create 10,000 jobs and raise the economic value of the area by £5.2 billion. Not bad. In an attempt to make Stratford even more accessible, there’s also a plan for the station to be rezoned, changing its zone 3 status into zones 2/3 in January 2016.
Back to the exciting stuff. V&A and Sadler’s Wells will be involved in the project and UCL will be relocating closer to the Orbit sculpture. TfL will also be moving to the site, too.
What will it look like? How big will it be? Well, it’s all rather hot off the press, so keep your eyes on the blog where we’ll keep you posted with the latest updates.
For now though, check out these five ways to get the most out of the new Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
