INNOVATION
IF YOU WERE anything like me , you probably spent several days this summer in front of your TV watching the drama and excitement of the Rio Olympics . And if you were in the UK during the great summer of 2012 , then you were no doubt reminded of the remarkable mood that swept over the nation four years ago when we hosted the world ’ s greatest sporting festival .
London won its Olympic bid in large part because of its groundbreaking focus on the legacy of the games . It committed that its state-of-the-art facilities would be maintained and re-used , and that the games as a whole would inspire a huge regeneration of a previously neglected part of the capital . This was deliberately targeted at answering those serious questions that dog so many Olympic hosts : what will the legacy be once the few weeks of sport are over ? What will happen to the sporting facilities ( stadiums , velodromes and aquatic centres ), media and visitor facilities or the auxiliary services businesses , many of which have been built at great expense ?
I ’ m pleased to be able to say that 2012 ’ s legacy has been and
continues to be delivered every day in East London . Over the past four years , the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park – as the location is now known – has evolved to become a bustling and dynamic area . Today it is the site of , among other things , Loughborough University ’ s postgraduate research centre , a wealth of shops , restaurants and residential developments , the headquarters of the Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA ) and of Transport for London ,
22 December 2016