2012 Olympic Village construction continues amid funding uncertainties

New images released by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) show construction work on the London 2012 Olympic Village, which started in May last year, is progressing with many of the project's structures now moving above ground.

However, difficulties securing funding mean the current work is being funded with UK£ 95 million (€ 107 million) from the UK government's Olympic Contingency Fund.

While it remains unclear how much of the £ 1 billion scheme (€ 1.12 billion) will be met by UK tax-payers, ODA Chief Executive David Higgins said, "The Olympic Village will be one of the strongest legacies from the Games and these images show the progress we are making on site, keeping us on track to deliver quality new homes for Londoners together with new parks, public squares and community facilities.

"Our discussions on the funding of the Village are continuing and in the meantime the acceleration of activity on site will help maintain the momentum of this huge project."

The project has already become one of the busiest construction sites in London with more than 570 workers on site. When complete it will comprise 11 residential blocks, each made up of approximately five to seven buildings.

Progress over the last 6 months includes:

• The start of work on the ‘super-structure' of the Village, with the first above-ground vertical columns being constructed that will form the ground-floor level of the first residential buildings
• Piling works are complete on 28 buildings of the Village; with over 2000 concrete piles installed more than 20 m deep for four blocks
• The first two tower cranes have been erected on site - 22 tower cranes will be in place by summer 2009
• Seven electricity pylons removed across the Village site, unlocking the area for the vertical build of new apartments and facilities
• Infrastructure works underway to create new links between the Olympic Village development and surrounding community, including two major railway bridges lifted into place and nearly 0.5 km of railway line covered in a concrete tunnel allowing access across the Village site from north to south
• Work underway to install new electricity, gas, water, drainage and district heating services between the sites of the new housing blocks
• Construction of new railway sidings complete to allow materials to be brought in to site by rail along with a new concrete batching plant on site, helping reduce the volume of traffic on local roads
• Planning permission secured for the first four residential schemes
• More than 750000 hours of construction work completed on site with no reportable accidents

The Olympic Village lies adjacent to the Olympic Park and Stratford City sites. It will accommodate athletes during the Olympic and Paralympic Games. After 2012, it will leave the legacy of new homes together with new parks, public squares and open space; an Academy education campus for all ages; multi-use community facilities; and new infrastructure to connect the new communities with the Olympic Park, one of the largest new urban parks in Europe for 150 years.