The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Masterplan raised the bar on sustainability, not just for future Olympic Games, but for industry and the organisers of major events the world over.

The numbers involved in staging an Olympic Games are staggering: 26 Olympic sports and 21 Paralympic sports across 29 venues in 27 days, thousands of athletes, spectators, volunteers and media, not to mention a global television audience in excess of 3 billion viewers. To do it successfully involves creating a masterplan that works logistically and shows the host city off to its best advantage.
The masterplan for the London 2012 Olympic Games was designed by the global architectural design firm Populous, showcasing a sustainable approach to temporary architecture never before seen in the staging of the Games. The comprehensive scheme brought together proposals for London’s renowned stadia, arenas and sports grounds to host events, supplemented with a range of new temporary transforming some of London’s most iconic landmarks, as well as permanent venues focused around a new urban park in Stratford.
An underdeveloped former light-industrial district, Stratford had been targeted as a key metropolitan regeneration site before the London 2012 Bid, and the development of new transport infrastructure, together with the extension of the town’s retail centre, was progressing at pace. The Olympic Park masterplan integrated with these components to deliver an expansive public park housing the Populous-designed London Olympic Stadium, and a host of other new Games venues that would later be transformed into community sports facilities. It also provided more green space and potential sites for future leisure, business, residential, social, and cultural quarters.
With its six permanent venues and three temporary venues, the developed design for the Olympic Park formed the largest planning application in British history. Today, the masterplan continues to evolve as part of the biggest urban park development in Europe in the last 150 years. It has created a new landmark destination for London, serving as the catalyst for widespread regeneration.

"London 2012 has raised the bar on sustainability, not just for future Olympic and Paralympic Games but for industry, and for the organizers of major events the world over."

SHAUN MCCARTHY /Chair, Commission for a Sustainable London 2012