Firm foundations

I could run you through the numbers – and boy, there are enough of those to go round. A thousand workers (4,000 by the end of the year), working on 11 residential plots of 2,800 units (1,380 of which will eventually become affordable homes), to house 17,000 athletes. And all this to be done in the next 1,064 days – that’s around 3 units a day if we’re milking the numbers theme here.

But when it comes to London’s Olympic Village, the numbers just aren’t doing the talking.

You can see the Olympic site – Olympic Park (sporting venues), Olympic Village (accommodation) and Stratford City (shopping) - from this office. (Panoramic views a saving grace of working in Canary Wharf). The Olympic stadium has been looking pretty good for a while now. But like the numbers, the long-range view doesn’t do the site justice. It’s only when you get off the tube at Stratford that the scale of this thing hits. (As well it should, given its £9.3 billion price tag).

Stepping off the train feels like entering a giant construction site. Cranes and the pneumatic sounds of development are everywhere. The massive shell of what will become Stratford City – at its heart a huge Westfield shopping centre - looks more like an aircraft hanger.

From a viewing platform in the centre of the Village, Olympic Delivery Authority press officer Stuart Buss points out the sights. ‘That’s the velodrome – that will stay after the Games. The neighbouring BMX track is also permanent and tracks will be built afterwards,’ he says. Olympic Park? As big as London’s Hyde Park. Over there? That will be Chobham Academy – an 1,800 student school opening in 2013. ‘Legacy is everything,’ he assures.

A big part of that legacy is the housing. So how is it coming along? All going to plan, apparently. Certainly the blocks are going up with startling speed. Plot ‘N15’ is the most advanced of the 11 residential complexes. Currently nine or 10 storeys high, it should be complete and ready for fitting out before the end of the year. A glossy brochure shows a shot of the plot in April – the foundations are there, but not a lot else.

It’s impressive – even heady – stuff. But what happens to the housing after the Games is the all-important question. For the most part, that is still being thrashed out. The affordable portion will be sold to Triathlon Homes, the joint venture between First Base, East Thames Housing and Southern Housing group. The future of the private homes is less certain. The search for buyer is, according to Buss, ‘being worked on’. As things continue to take shape, and when the economy picks up, there should be plenty to whet buyers’ appetites.

Track progess here: http://www.london2012.com/plans/olympic-park/webcams/olympic-village.php