SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION

Sustainable Construction: London Games 2012 'The Olympic Park'

[Name of the Institute]

Sustainable Construction: London Games 2012 'The Olympic Park'

Introduction

Today, Sustainability is a core goal in the strategic planning of any building or event. There are various models, which are used as a development framework for sustai8nable development. One such a model is triple bottom line framework. There are three dimensions of TBL framework including financial, environmental and social (Savitz & Weber 2006, pp.12). Table 1 at appendix illustrates the three dimensions of TBL.

In order to analyze the application of sustainability in building construction, I have chosen the construction of London 2012 Olympic venue, the Olympic park. The Olympic park, built on 246 hectare land, will stage around 10 sporting venues, as well as, media centres and Olympic Village. Many building will be retained after the end of games. The area of the construction is ideal for sustainability development surrounded by public transportation.

Data Review

This essay will review the sustainability surrounding the construction, procurement and waste management during the construction of the facilities. The essay will also highlight the development of green transportation system. Finally, the planning for reducing carbon emissions will be discussed in the essay. Prior to main discussion, let's review some key facts regarding the construction of the new Olympic Village. Other areas of sustainability will also be highlighted including water management, and employment generation.

According to estimates, the contribution of Londoners is around £625 million to the Paralympics and Olympics games. The stadium capacity is estimated to manage around 80,000 seats. The labour market was estimated to experience an increase of demand in 2011. The labour requirement is around 2.8 million workers, generating significant employment opportunities. The games will contribute £10 billion revenue to the UK economy. The tourism during the games will generate estimated £2.1 billion.

The initial cost for the development of the facility was £280 million; however, the cost was revised as a result of inflation and VAT, to around £296 million. There will be 5,000 dew homes available after the games, and over 200 buildings were demolished in order to build the facilities (Halliday 2008, pp.8).

Discussion

Water Management

The goals for water management included the reduction in demand of water by 40% for venues and 30% for residential projects. The installation of Water Efficient Fittings in low flow taps urinals to achieve 30% reduction. Installation of non-potable water networks to achieve further reduction of 10%. In order to achieve these objectives, a thorough evaluation was completed, and instructions were issued to all authorities to install water efficient fittings. The Handball Arena and VeloPark arena is designed to use rainwater harvesting to reduce water usage. The designing of non potable network is near completion and a long term supply contract was procured. The water, which is being used for dust suppression and soil washing, is being recycled. Almost all site offices are using low flow showers and taps. The water being used for cleaning the swimming pool is recycled at the Aquatics Centre (London2012.com 2009, ...