Construction starts on Olympic Stadium

Construction has started on the £496m London 2012 Olympic Stadium – three months ahead of schedule.

Team McAlpine commenced work on the permanent foundations of the stadium today, after work to clear the site finished earlier than expected.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown travelled to the site to meet some of the 3,000 workers on site at the moment.

Mr Brown joined in praising the workers who had sped-up the start date of the 80,000 seat stadium.

Olympic Delivery Authority chairman John Armitt said it was a great achievement, but there was a battle ahead to get it finished.

He said: “It is great news that we can make an early start but this is a project with an immovable deadline so we know there are big challenges ahead.”

The first phase of construction will involve reinforcing the ground the stadium will sit on, by inserting up to 4,000 concrete columns into the ground.

Through autumn and winter of 2008, floor slabs will be laid for the base of the stadium ‘bowl’, and the lower tier structures and columns that support the pedestrian concourse level will be built.

Early in 2009 the steel structures that will support the stadium roof will begin to rise, giving an indication of the final height and scale of the structure.