Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
For over 40 years Frosts Landscape Construction have been delivering quality landscaping schemes in the UK, including some of the most prestigious projects in London (e.g. Ropemaker and Watermark Place) and more recently for the 2012 Olympics, with landscaping at North Park West, Eton Manor, a brown roof on the Media Centre, and a number of hard and soft landscaping packages at the Athletes Village and at nearby Westfield.
The Project
- Value £16m
- Duration 24 months
- Location Stratford, London
- Architects Atkins and LDA
- Client ODA (Olympic Delivery Authority)
- Main Contractor Bam Nuttall
Key Features
- 8 Works packages
- Soft Landscaping to the West side of the North Park
- Infrastructure works to the training grounds at Eton Manor
- Streetscaping of the Athletes Village including roof gardens
- Brown roof installation to the Media Centre
- Creation of woodland and wetlands including swales and check dams
Key Stats
- 100,000m³imported subsoils and topsoils
- 1,500semi mature trees up to 70/80cm girth
- 100,000shrubs and herbaceous plants
- 5,000m²turf
- 60,000m²fully automated irrigation system
- 500m²concrete structures from seating to booster stations
Project Challenges
- Pressure to achieve an extremely high quality professional landscape
- Project had to be completed on time
- Installation of deep drainage through existing contaminated ground
- Organising soil deliveries via train
- Procurement and germination testing of the wildflower seed
- Strict site security requirements working under the NEC form of contract for the first time
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
For over 40 years Frosts Landscape Construction have been delivering quality landscaping schemes in the UK, including some of the most prestigious projects in London (e.g. Ropemaker and Watermark Place) and more recently for the 2012 Olympics, with landscaping at North Park West, Eton Manor, a brown roof on the Media Centre, and a number of hard and soft landscaping packages at the Athletes Village and at nearby Westfield.
Soft landscaping for North Park West included the creation of sustainable drainage swales and check dams; planting over 1500 semi-mature trees up to 70/80cm girth; approx 60,000m2 of planting including grasses and wildflower meadows; the planting of over 100,000 plants; the creation of woodland and wetland areas; supply and lay of over 5,000m2 turf.
A number of issues made the project very complex and involved. The first was the layered design that started from below the ground with the different soil types profiled to suit the different types of landscaping above. The slopes and contours were designed to create vistas, crisp lines and flowing landscapes which change and evolve with the aspect and location. The forming and working on these slopes was particularly difficult. In some areas the planting was made up of a number of layers for example the wooded hillocks including mature trees, smaller trees, native whips, herbaceous under planting and woodland seeding and each of these elements have different management and maintenance requirements so an understanding of this design is required to properly look after it.
On Friday 7th December at the BALI Awards ceremony in London saw the joint submission from Frosts Landscape Construction, Gavin Jones, White Horse Contractors and Willerby Landscapes win the Principal Award for soft landscaping (over £1.5m) for their Olympic Park entry. Their collaborative submission also won a unique BALI’s 40th Anniversary Commemorative Award for Outstanding British Excellence.
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Gallery
A look at the project through our photo and video gallery
