Key Olympic Park utilities building up-and-running
An essential new utilities building in the Olympic Park is now operational, the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) announced.
Key architectural elements have been included in the construction of the pumping station to create a visually interesting building including the use of imagery on the external face of the building, feature lighting of the building and tower, landscaping works, and the use of striking colours on key pieces of equipment.
ODA Director of Infrastructure and Utilities, Simon Wright, said: ‘The Pumping Station delivers another essential building block in a new network of utilities that will serve the Olympic Park for generations to come. While the new sporting venues in the Olympic Park will be the main attraction in 2012, the utilities buildings we are constructing will be every bit as essential in helping us deliver a successful Games and a lasting legacy from 2012. The use of key design elements ensure the pumping station is not just functional but also another building of architectural interest in the Olympic Park.’
Design elements
- Pumping station built as a circular building to reflect engineering used in sewer shafts beneath the ground
- Images have been applied to the exterior of the Pumping Station building of Sir Joseph Balzagette’s drawings of a Victorian sewage pumping station to depict the history of the London sewer network and its Victorian origins
- Two large cylinders housed on outside of building that form part of the air extraction system have been painted pink – the striking pink cylinders have already been nicknamed Pinky and Perky by site workers
- The building includes a 12m-high ventilation tower which includes a blue light at the top to create a ‘beacon’ in the south of the Olympic Park
Construction
- Construction of Pumping Station and sewer networks started in June 2008 and more than 100 workers were involved at the peak of activity
- The pumping station building is 6m high and the circular outer shell measures 20m across
- Beneath pumping station structure is a 16m-deep, 12.5m diameter shaft connecting the pumping station with 1.8km of sewer tunnels of 1.2m diameter which have been constructed throughout the Olympic Park.
- The complex network of new sewers had to be constructed around a number of obstacles throughout the Olympic Park including 4 rivers and watercourses and 2 operational railway lines
- Sewer networks collect waste water from sites of main venues and buildings in the Olympic Park, and transport it to the pumping station building in the south of the Park where it is then discharged into the Northern Outfall Sewer
- The Olympic Stadium is set to be the first Olympic Park venue to have a permanent connection with the new pumping station and sewer system
Sustainability features
- A Living Green roof included on pumping station building to help enhance ecological value and biodiversity of Olympic Park by attracting local wildlife
- The roof will have 150sq m of biodiverse space consisting of meadow and grassland planting
- The building will include 12 boxes for bats, black redstart and house sparrows
- External landscaping designed so that surface water runs-off to far corner of the site where a Field Maple tree has been planted to help give further visual interest to the building