Olympic Park vision: A revised legacy plan will be more detailed. ODA photo

Legacy chief aims for clearer plan

By Richard Garlick Monday, 09 November 2009

The team reviewing the master-plan for the development of the Olympic Park after the 2012 Games is focusing on creating a clearer-than-previous action plan for the first five years of building, it emerged last week.

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Andrew Altman, chief executive of the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC), told reporters at last week's Thames Gateway Forum that "the first five years would be very important to set the tone for all future development of the site".

He said that the existing legacy masterplan, published earlier this year by the London Development Agency, was the result of "a lot of very good work". But he said he wanted to build on it by focusing in more detail on plans for the first five years of construction, which would begin in earnest in 2014.

"When the Games are over, we must continue to have energy and excitement in the area, and phasing is key to that," he said. The revised masterplan should be complete by the spring, he said.

It was because of the importance of setting high standards with the early development of the site that the OPLC was determined that it should be able to influence decisions about the future of the Olympic Village, he said.

The village is being developed by the Olympic Delivery Authority, the body responsible for building Games venues. "The village will be our first neighbourhood," said Altman. "Its ongoing maintenance, who it is sold to - these are fundamental decisions that it is important for us to have influence over."

He also promised that the company's first business plan, due in April, would contain performance indicators for measuring its success in delivering regeneration.

It is not clear whether or not these will be distinct from the regeneration targets for the wider Lower Lea Valley area agreed between the Government, the London Mayor and the five host boroughs.