Dave Hill, who runs the OnLondon website (as well as being a trustee of the Society) has written a new book on how the London 2012 Olympic Park was built in East London’s Lower Lea Valley.
This was an area for which many regeneration plans had been made but never delivered, but the Olympics provided the catalyst for an array of big personalities, rival politicians, visionary planners and innovative architects to completely transform a big piece of London in the space of six years.
The Olympic and Paralympic Games were not only a sporting and organisational triumph but also showed that Britain was capable of completing an enormous and complicated infrastructure project on time and within budget.
The book draws on interviews with over 50 people closely involved with the great task including David Higgins, Margaret Ford, Neale Coleman, Alison Nimmo, Sebastian Coe, Vivienne Ramsey, Tony Winterbottom, Rosanna Lawes, Richard Sumray, Lyn Garner, Gareth Blacker, Mark Bostock, Hugh Robertson, Richard Brown, John Armitt and Jason Prior.
The Foreword is by Sir Peter Hendy, chair of the London Legacy Development Corporation and Commissioner of Transport for London at the time of Games.
