Olympic Velodrome

The Velodrome – an iconic, landmark venue for indoor track cycling events.

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Client brief

One of the four permanent venues on the Olympic Park, the Velodrome provided a landmark venue for the indoor track cycling events at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The concourse is fully glazed to allow views both into and out of the building. It also helps to visually separate the Western Red Cedar clad upper bowl from the ground floor back of house accommodation, which is largely hidden behind the landscaped earth berms that form a visual plinth at the east and west ends of the building.

Our scope

Vision Arch were engaged to carry out the design development, supply, fabrication, installation and testing of 400 liner metres of blast resistant structurally glazed facade to the full perimeter of this iconic building.

Incorporated within this facade are 24 blast resilient frameless structurally glazed doors. Also integrated are frameless glass louvres and large format vents connected to the BMS for natural cooling and ventilation.

We employed our 3D SOLIDWORKS modelling software to integrate our facade within the project model.

Key challenges

Challenge 1

The Olympic Delivery Authority set a number of sustainability and material targets; through careful consideration and integration of the architecture, structure and building services, the design has met or exceeded these requirements.

Challenge 2

A challenging project logistically due to the delivery holding depots that the vehicles had to pass through for security purposes and checking.

Challenge 3

Delivery of programme on time, or ahead of programme, to ensure the Olympic critical path was achieved.

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The result

The building forms an elegant response to the brief by using blast resilient materials in an efficient manner to meet the client's aspirations within the available budget.

Detailed Product Listing:

  • Blast Resistant Structurally Glazed Facade
  • Frameless Structurally Glazed Doors
  • Frameless Glass Louvres and Large Format Vents
  • Balustrade
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What we did

100%

Delivered to budget

120%

Ahead of programme

Work started onsite in February 2009 and was completed ahead of programme.

100%

Local employment targets achieved

Vision worked with ISG on the external glazed elements of the London Olympic Velodrome which incorporated the concourse glazing and ground floor entrances and office glazing. It was a tricky scheme with natural ventilation and then the addition of blast requirements to incorporate during the design stage. They worked diligently to resolve the design issues and delivered the project on time.

Chris Pott, Assistant Design Manager - ISG