Olympic Park: When Britain Built Something Big

Description

Dave Hill has written a riveting account of how the Park for the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympics Games was built from a standing start by unlikely alliances of extraordinary characters, political rivals, visionary planners and exotic architects to create a stage for a massive sporting event in a country with a terrible track record for delivering major infrastructure projects.

He has spoken to over 50 leading London Games figures, from early visionaries, to people who prepared, planned and delivered the Lower Lea Valley’s remarkable transformation – many of them unsung heroes – to those now guiding its legacy, including Richard Sumray, Margaret Ford, David Higgins, Alison Nimmo, Vivienne Ramsey, Tony Winterbottom, Gareth Blacker, Rosanna Lawes, Ken Livingstone, Lyn Garner, Neale Coleman, Hugh Robertson and Sebastian Coe.

The book’s Foreword is written by London Legacy Development Corporation chair and former Transport for London Commissioner Sir Peter Hendy (now Lord Hendy).