Olympic bid's showpiece village
A showpiece "green" community will be created in the East End if London wins the right to stage the Olympics.
The 3,600-home village will use solar panels, wind turbines and recycled water on a scale never before seen on mainstream housing developments in the UK.
This will allow the village - which would initially provide 17,320 beds for athletes - to generate one-fifth of its electricity from renewable sources.
The concept of a "Green Games" will be presented to an Olympic delegation tomorrow by Sir Jonathan Porritt, a world authority on the environment and advisor to the Prime Minister.
Sir Jonathan hopes that by 2020, the wider Lea Valley could be largely self-sufficient in water by "harvesting" rainwater and reprocessing waste water.
Another aim is to demonstrate how massive construction projects, from the Olympics to the Thames Gateway regeneration, can be completed in an environmentallyfriendly way by recycling building waste. Sir Jonathan told the Standard: "What is being proposed is a host of measures to reduce environmental consumption and use the most sustainable building materials. There is an add-on benefit to the Lower Lea Valley with the idea this could be made into a model development with the best attributes of sustainable development - more green spaces, more affordable housing, the lowest possible environmental impact."
London 2012 bid leaders hope to show the International Olympic Committee there will be no negative environmental effects from hosting the world's greatest sporting event. Key "green" elements of the bid include:
- Requiring spectators to use public transport or to cycle or walk.
- Banning polluting lorries and taxis by designating the whole city a low emission zone.
- Maximising the use of the Channel Tunnel trains to reduce air travel.
- Ensuring food is locally sourced and wrapped in recycled materials.
- Promoting the use of hydrogen-powered buses.
Sir Jonathan said it was right for the Olympics to set aspirational targets both for athletes and on the environment.
He said: "The Olympics is a celebration of everything that is best about human endeavour in the sporting field. That needs to be matched by equally uplifting ideas of the contribution these facilities could make to the local community. It's very fitting in the way that a hugely ambitious project should be cast in such a sustainable way. We need very ambitious targets for building throughout the Thames Gateway. This could be a tremendous help to that."
He rejected Green party fears that the Olympics would damage areas such as Hackney Marshes, earmarked as a temporary car park. Bid leaders have vowed to repair any damage.
Sir Jonathan said: "Perfection is sometimes the enemy of the good. This bid process has been seriously engaged in trying to find a sustainable solution to these big construction issues, and ought to be supported on that basis."
The IOC delegation will today be addressed by Lord Coe, Sir Steve Redgrave and Dame Kelly Holmes during presentations on sport, transport and legacy.
Later in the week they will tour all the proposed venues, meet Tony Blair at Downing Street and attend a Buckingham Palace reception hosted by the Queen.
