Ten years ago, when Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park fully opened, I showed you this graphic showing all the adjacent parcels of land proposed for development. Ignore the blues because they were already up and running in 2014, specifically the East Village (previously the Athletes Village) and the horrible stack of student flats at number 13. But what about the reds and oranges? Have they grown as planned, what's there now, and which of them remain inexplicably empty a decade on?
1) This is Chobham Manor, the first of the five Olympic neighbourhoods to be completed, although the builders only packed up and moved out last year. As promised, it includes actual streets of actual houses as well as lots of flats. 2) This is East Wick phase 2, a stripe of former parkland. As blogged yesterday it's only just seeing its first skeletal flats. 3) This is East Wick phase 1, tucked inbetween Here East and the Copper Box. Construction of 300 homes took place between 2017 and 2022, and as blogged yesterday its haircuts are not cheap. 4) This is Sweetwater, the future site of 750 squishedy flats. However as yet this is completely undeveloped, even 12 years after the Games, other than a rejigged network of roads. The last burst of action was a spate of masterplanning in 2020, and construction is currently pencilled in for 2025-2030. Housing crisis? What housing crisis? 5) This is Bow Goods Yard, site of a railhead, concrete batching plant and multiple aggregate hillocks. It's owned by Network Rail who plan to submit an outline planning application this spring following masterplanning activities last year. As ‘strategic industrial land’ a large rail freight facility has to be retained, but potential additional uses include workspaces, leisure spaces and potentially some housing. 6) This is Pudding Mill, another as yet entirely undeveloped Olympic neighbourhood. ABBA Voyage is squatting by the DLR station as a meanwhile use, and other flats have grown on land not owned by the LLDC, but everything else is flattened space. Contracts for construction are due to be awarded in the second half of this year and building works will continue until 2032, twenty years after the Games. 6a) It's not on the map but just east of number 6 will be Bridgewater. As yet, bugger all. 6b) Just off the map, the other side of Stratford High Street, the Rick Roberts Way site is also currently flatless. A full planning application is imminent. 7&8) These parcels haven't become flats, they're now part of UCL, with number 7 a campus building and number 8 a stack of student accommodation. 9) This is the East Bank, the cultural riverside quarter that started life as Boris's Olympicopolis. The four residents are UAL (2023), Sadlers Wells (2024), the V&A (2025) and the BBC (late 2025). Four residential towers are due to arise at the tip of the site overlooking the centre of the Park, codename Stratford Waterfront, starting next year and completing in 2028. 10) This is Glasshouse Gardens, two residential towers already under construction in 2014 and completed three years later. 11) This was the International Quarter, a serious slice of highrise offices attempting to create "a new metropolitan business district". Key tenants include TfL, the Financial Conduct Authority and UNICEF. Has recently been blandly rebranded as Stratford Cross, an "ever-evolving destination", with completion not expected until 2031. 12) This is IQL North, for many years an unkempt stripe of grass between Stratford International and the East Village, more recently fenced off awaiting transformation into 700 homes and 900 student flats.
Net result after 10 years: 5 finished, 3 underway and 6 as yet not begun.
You really can't accuse E20's developers of rushing things.
If you find my Olympic updates quite tedious, the bad news is there's at least eight more years to go.
