Aug 28 2007
The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) today announced a shortlist of ten world-class multidisciplinary design teams for two of the temporary arenas for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The Basketball and Fencing Arenas are both located within the Olympic Park. The Basketball venue will be adjacent to the Olympic Stadium. During the Games it will have 12,000 seats for the Basketball events and 4,500 seats during the Modern Pentathlon events. During the Paralympic Games it will have 10,000 seats for Wheelchair Basketball and Wheelchair Rugby.
After the Games the Basketball Arena will be dismantled and relocated to provide a facility elsewhere in the UK.
The 8,000-seat Fencing Hall will be located in the Park close to the Olympic Village. It will host Fencing during the Olympic Games and Paralympic Judo and Wheelchair Fencing during the Paralympic Games.
After the Games the venue will be taken down to leave open space in the Park. Fencers will be able to take part in the sport in the nearby Handball Arena, which will become a multi-sport facility.
ODA Chief Executive David Higgins said: ‘We are looking for design teams to provide innovative solutions for important temporary arenas such as Basketball and Fencing. Industry has responded positively to this challenge and I’m looking forward to seeing the submissions put forward from the impressive teams on the short list.’