NLA Walking Tour – Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

Undergoing massive renewal, explore the significant new developments following the legacy of the 2012 Olympic Games of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Explore the East Bank, the UK’s newest cultural quarter, masterplanned by Allies and Morrison, with public realm by LDA Design. Renowned institutions including the BBC and V&A, opening in 2025, Sadler’s Wells, London College of Fashion and Washington’s Smithsonian Collection move into impressive new homes designed by co-architects O’Donnell +Tuomey and Camps Felip Arquitecturia. Sited on the River Lea waterfront, they will all share a new common ground that will bring art and culture outdoors.

The 2012 Olympics site expanded its legacy role with two live/work schemes in the International Quarter London, a new neighbourhood in the heart of Stratford by Rogers Stirk Harbour Partners. The project is nearing completion with a timber-framed public hub – the IQL Pavilion by Coffey Architects – and the existing Manhattan Lofts Gardens scheme by SOM at Stratford International Station – the tallest building in the area.

To the south of the Park a vast new campus has emerged for UCL East, designed by architects Stanton Williams and Lifschutz Davidson Sandlilands. To the west, the Hawkins\Brown retrofitted 2012 Broadcasting Centre, now called Here East, supplies London’s acute need for flexible, affordable, small-scale workspace in its new extension The Gantry. Here East is now home to BT Sport and The Bartlett, plus a new East London V&A Collection and Research Centre by US architects Diller Scofidio+Renfro. The pivotal 2012 Games icons – Zaha Hadid’s Aquatic Centre, Michael Hopkins’ Velodrome, HOK’s London Stadium and Make’s Copper Box – complete this jam-packed tour. On the tour, we will be joined by LDA Design, the consultancy behind the final landscape masterplan for the 2012 Olympic Park and its transition into the park we see today.

• All our walks are led by experienced Blue Badge Guides.
• Start: Endeavour Square, London E20 1JN
• Ends: Stratford International Station.
• Duration: 2 hours approx.