London’s Olympic legacy

10 Aug 2012, 7:05 pm   -   Source: Brian Thomson, SBS
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Soon the stadiums will be empty and the athlete’s village abandoned, but London has big plans for the Olympic site once the 2012 Games are over.

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Soon the stadiums will be empty and the athlete’s village abandoned, but London has big plans for the Olympic site once the 2012 Games are over.

Once, Stratford’s only claim to fame was that it housed the largest dump of used refrigerators in Europe. Now, the suburb in the north-east corner of the English capital is set to become a high-tech hub.

There are plans to build 10,000 new houses in five neighbourhoods, with a transport network that now makes Stratford one of the most connected places in Europe.

London Mayor Boris Johnson says the money spent on building up Stratford will not go to waste.

“We could not have delivered these games in the way we have without investment in transport infrastructure. London is now going to continue to expand faster than any other big city in Europe. We'll hit 9 million before New York does.”

The suburb also boasts the giant Westfield shopping complex.

Ricky Burdett, the architectural advisor for the Olympic Park, says the jobs created by companies like Westfield will be one of the biggest legacies of the games.

The London Mayor is confident the Olympic glow won't wear off anytime soon. "We have made an unanswerable case for hosting the olympics within the next 20 years," he says. 

Olympics 2012

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