Greenwich prepares for London 2012 Olympics (From News Shopper)

Latest updates on the progress of London 2012 Olympic venues, Greenwich Park and Royal Artillery Barracks

3:28pm Monday 16th May 2011 in News By Nina Massey

With the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games little more than a year away, NINA MASSEY looks at how Greenwich is preparing for its role in hosting the world’s largest sporting event.

OLYMPIC test events are due to take place later this year in Greenwich, and construction has started on venues in Woolwich.

The aim of the test events in Greenwich Park is to see how well the venue can cope with the games and for the public to get a feel of how the park closures will affect them.

Meanwhile work has already started at the Royal Artillery Barracks on the building of tent-like fixtures which will host the indoor pistol and rifle events, south of Ha Ha Road.

Greenwich Park

Work started on Monday (May 16) on preparing Greenwich Park for Olympic test events that will be held in July.

While preparations are carried out for test equestrian dressage, cross country, jumping, paralympic dressage, and modern pentathlon events, various areas of the park will be closed to the public.

Temporary closures of areas in Greenwich Park

The area from St Mary’s Gate, immediately in front of Queen’s House, stopped being accessible to park visitors from Monday and will remain off bounds until August.

This area will be used to accommodate back of house structures such as stables for horses and will also feature 2000 seats for test event spectators.

Lovers Walk and paths on the side eastern side of The Avenue and Blackheath Avenue, including One Tree Hill, will be closed from June 21 to July 10 to make preparations for the Cross Country Course.

Greeenwich Park Olympic timetable

• May 16 – Test event set up begins

• July 1 – Athletes and horses arrive for test event

• July 4 to July 10 – Test events take place

• April 2012 – Work begins on installation of temporary facilities for Olympics

• July 6, 2012 – Most of the park closes to the public

• July 27 to August 12, 2012 – Olympic games

• August 30 to September 4, 2012 – Paralympic equestrian events

• September to October 2012 – All structures in the park removed

• November 2012 – Restoration work begins to return park to its original condition

Graham Day

Greenwich Park’s manager, Graham Day said: “It is all very exciting now that work is beginning. The numbers involved in the tests are not very big. We have 10 times that many visitors for the marathon and have worked very closely with LOCOG and the ODA during planning.”

“We don’t think restoration is going to be a problem as the weather is good and there is going to be minimal excavation. Most of the structures will be built on top of the land rather than digging down into it.”

Woolwich Royal Artillery Barracks

The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) has released new artists’ impressions of the shooting and archery venues at Woolwich Royal Artillery Barracks.

An artist's impression of the tents which will host the indoor shooting events

The pistol and rifle competitions will be held across three indoor ranges - a finals range, 25m range and a combined 10m and 50m range.

An artist's impression of the shotgun and Paralympic archery arena

Three outdoor ranges will host the Olympic shotgun competitions, which will then be transformed to stage Paralympic archery.

Immediately after the games, the venue will be dismantled as quickly as possible and the site returned to its original condition.

At a public meeting in Woolwich Common Community Centre, representatives from the ODA meet with residents to discuss the impact of the games.

Shooting and Paralympic archery plan

Around 40 people turned up to hear how construction on the site and will affect them and about how long they can expect work to continue. It was decided that quarterly meetings will be held to keep everyone informed of the progress.

Head of community relations for the works at Woolwich, Nikki Butler said: “Where possible, two weeks’ notice will be given, but at least one, where work is to be carried outside the normal hours of 8am to 6pm.”

Royal Artillery Barracks Olympic timetable

• March 2011 – work starts on the site

• March 2011 to January 2012 – Main construction phase

• January 2012 to April 2012 – Event preparation

• April 2012 – Test events

• July 27 to August 12 – London 2012 Olympic Games

• August 29 to September 9 – London 2012 Paralympic Games

• End of 2012 – Site returned to original condition