The ODA is transforming former industrial land, much of it contaminated through years of industrial neglect, to create a total of over 100 hectares of parklands that will provide a colourful setting and festival atmosphere for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and beyond.

The southern part of the Park will focus on retaining the Games spirit, with riverside gardens and areas for markets, events, cafes and bars in legacy.

The landscape and public realm contract includes hard and soft landscape works, tree planting and the construction of the concourse which will link all the venues, entrances and parklands.

The work, on track to start in the New Year, will also include lighting, irrigation and drainage and delivering the London 2012 Garden stretching for half a mile between the Aquatics Centre and Olympic Stadium and celebrating centuries of British passion for gardens and plants.

The contractor will also deliver the Great British Garden , which two amateur gardeners are helping to design after their competition entries won a public vote. 

ODA chief executive David Higgins said: "We are on track to create the green backdrop for the London 2012 Games that in legacy will become the UK's largest new urban park in over a century.

"Trees are being planted, wetlands dug and cleaned soil formed into the hills, swales, meadows and lawns which will be planted for the new parklands.

"In the spring our world-class team will start creating the gardens and festival areas in the south of the Olympic Park, where most people will enter the park during and after the Games."

The northern area of the Park will use the latest green techniques to manage flood and rain water while providing quieter public space and habitats for hundreds of existing and rare species from kingfishers to otters.

Bam Nuttall is already delivering the northern section of parklands and assembling a team of specialist subcontractors and suppliers.

The ODA is working with the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC)  to ensure the parklands fit into the Legacy Masterplan Framework - a spatial plan for the development of the Olympic Park site after the 2012 Games which will include the long-term management and maintenance of the parklands. 

ODA project sponsor John Hopkins said: "This significant appointment keeps us on track to deliver the Olympic Park parklands.

"The London 2012 Gardens in particular will be a spectacular addition to London's wealth of world-class gardens."


Related stories
April 2009: Green-fingered Brits given Olympic opportunity
September 2008: ODA awards another major Olympic Park contract to Edmund Nuttall
May 2008: London 2012 Parklands given green light
May 2008: ODA seeking supplier for 2,000 trees for Olympic Park
May 2008: Good news for the birds and bees in London Olympic Park plan