Sustainability
Click a highlighted venue to find out more about it
About Dow
Through the power of science and innovation and strong focus on sustainability, Dow is committed to delivering the key infrastructure components that have a positive impact on the Olympic Movement. As the Official Chemistry Company of the Olympic Games, Dow provides science-based innovative solutions that improve the Olympic experience for host cities, athletes and fans everywhere.
Dow provided improvements to infrastructure and the environmental legacy that helped to make the London 2012 Olympic Games successful – both for the athletes and those watching around the world.
Olympic Stadium
London’s Olympic Stadium is “wrapped” with fabric panels produced by Dow and made with Dow resins. Dow’s product was also included in the 5000 metres of the Olympic track. Roofing insulation materials from Dow offer moisture resistance and structural strength.
Olympics and Paralympics: Athletics and Ceremonies.
Future use: Under tender – possibly a football club.
Olympic Village
Insulation from Dow is used in the Olympic and Paralympic Village apartments to protect 17,000 athletes and officials from the elements.
Olympics and Paralympics: Home to the athletes and officials during their time at London 2012.
Future use: Community and premium housing.
Westfield Shopping Centre and Parking Deck
Insulation materials from Dow are helping to ensure long-term moisture resistance and durability of the Shopping Centre's roof. Below, Dow insulation materials help ensure strength, durability and moisture resistance for a safer parking deck.
Olympics and Paralympics: Corporate hospitality, “Olympic Houses”, media facilities, office space.
Future use: Hospitality and “House” areas to be converted back to commercial office space for rent.
Copper Box
High-strength insulation materials from Dow help meet high structural and energy efficiency demands for the handball structure's inverted roof.
Olympics: Handball, Modern Pentathlon (Fencing).
Paralympics: Goalball.
Future use: Multi-sport entertainment arena (community sports centre with concert staging).
International Broadcast Centre
Insulation systems from Dow help provide energy efficiency and structural moisture resistance to protect 20,000 media members and hundreds of thousands of visitors to these media hubs. Dow also provides materials in wire and cable that enable reliable and efficient transmission of the Olympic Games around the world, while simultaneously protecting the cables from damage.
Olympics and Paralympics: Electronic media (television and radio).
Future use: Cloud computing centre.
Riverbank Arena
Resins from Dow help provide a durable, soft and safe field for the 380 athletes competing in more than 75 hockey matches during the Games.
Olympics: Hockey.
Paralympics: 5-a-side and 7-a-side football.
Future use: Not yet under tender – possibly hockey arena or football club.
Sustainability News
Offsetters co-founder still seeking further gains after helping Vancouver 2010 become first carbon neutral Games
As chief executive of Offsetters, the first official carbon offset supplier to an Olympic Games, you might expect Dr James Tansey to be gung-ho about his company's role in helping the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games to become the first carbon neutral Games in history.The key steps to a sustainable Olympic Games
The final chapter on a sustainable London 2012
How rowing is protecting the very thing it is reliant on – clean water
Is this the future of the Olympic Village?
It is already well beyond doubt that London 2012 staged the most sustainable Olympic and Paralympic Games in history. The key was putting sustainability at the heart of the Games from the very outset, from the construction of venues to the recycling of composite materials across the Olympic Park in Stratford.How London 2012 lead the way in countering recycling problems
How Coca-Cola helped make London 2012 the most sustainable Games of modern times
Worldwide Olympic Partner Coca-Cola knows more than most about the Olympic and Paralympics Games. After all, its association with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) goes back more than 80 years, when it got involved in the Amsterdam 1928 Olympic Games. The American multinational beverage corporation have been involved in every Olympics Games since. But in all those 80 years, perhaps its greatest achievement came at London 2012, as it contributed significantly to making those Games the most sustainable in history.Why sustainable temporary structures are one of the leading legacies of London 2012
Debate is now raging over whether London 2012 was the greatest Olympic Games ever. That, ultimately, will be a subjective judgment, to be debated endlessly but with little definitive proof. But what is certain is that this summer's Games used more temporary venues than any other major sporting event in history. Venues may be temporary but London 2012 sustainability legacy is permanent
Beach volleyball has quickly established itself as one of the most popular sports featured in an Olympic Games. But with sunshine and sand a little unfamiliar to we Britons, providing a top-class venue for the players and vast army of fans at London 2012 exerted its own pressure on organisers.More stories
- Why grass pitches are losing the turf war
- Glowing praise for London 2012 sustainability measures
- Why the Velodrome is the green gem among London 2012’s sparkling array of Games venues
- How London 2012 has struck sustainability gold by cultivating the greenest Games yet
- London 2012 is only the tip of Dow's sustainable iceberg, insists Olympic marketing chief
- Measuring the effect of the 2012 Games on the air quality of London
- BMW has played a crucial role in making London 2012 the most sustainable Olympics and Paralympics ever
- My visit to Dow revealed a global chemical giant fully committed to the Olympic and Paralympic sustainability cause












Last month's Boston Marathon bombings showed just how vulnerable some events can be to terrorist attacks but Helmut Spahn, executive director of the International Centre for Sport Security, claims that sharing information and early planning can help reduce the risk of such incidents in the future