Sustainability accolade for London 2012 enabling works

(24 Nov 2010)
In October 2010, at the British Construction Industry Awards, the London 2012 Enabling Works project received the Judges’ Special Award: “For a building or civil engineering project of any size, which the judges consider to be particularly inspirational in one or more aspects”.

This accolade marks the end of a long journey, transforming a 2.5 sq km derelict and environmentally contaminated site in East London into an Olympic Park capable of holding the London 2012 games and providing a lasting legacy for the local community.

One of the guiding principles behind the project was sustainability – across the entire supply chain. This approach has led to over 98% re-use of demolition materials and successful excavation, processing, treatment and subsequent re-use of circa two million cubic metres of soil. To achieve this, a variety of remedial solutions were employed, including bio-remediation, chemical and geotechnical stabilisation, complex sorting and soil washing.

In addition to remediation across the site, the Enabling Works scope has included the following:

Over 140 archaeological evaluations, uncovering Iron Age skeletons, a Bronze Age hut, WW2 helmets and a gun emplacement.
Nearly 3000 site investigations
Over 200 buildings demolished
Creation of approximately 1ha of habitat including grasslands and log walls

Over the last three years, delivery has been by a highly committed team within CLM (the ODA’s delivery partner), led by Laing O’Rourke Project Manager Adam Ferguson. Site activity was facilitated by an integrated team of tier one contractors. A traditional timeframe for undertaking works of this volume and scale on a site as complex and restricted as the Olympic Park would be approximately 10-15 years: - his team has accomplished the same scope in less than four.

To achieve such progress within three years, it was essential to adopt a creative and flexible approach to solve problems, as change has been an almost daily occurrence. Strong and dynamic communication through the collaborated team and early and active involvement with all stakeholders was essential as it built trust and credibility and allowed practical and pragmatic solutions to be reached.

The environmental and sustainability success of the project has also been demonstrated by the recent CEEQUAL (Civil Engineering Environmental Quality Assessment) scores. The CEEQUAL assessment for the North Park was 94.2% and South Park 94.1% - two of the highest scores ever awarded.

In addition, Enabling Works has won several other industry awards and continues to lead the industry, challenging and changing behaviours and re-setting industry benchmarks for innovation and sustainability. These awards include:

The Edmund Hambly Medal (Institution of Civil Engineers) for creative design on an engineering project that makes a substantial contribution to sustainable development
The Regeneration and Renewal Awards for 2009 – for the Best Environmentally Sustainable Regeneration Scheme
ICE Awards to Top London projects of 2010 – for the Greatest Contribution to London Award
The ‘Brownfield Briefing’ Remediation Innovation Awards 2008 – for Best Use of a Combination of Techniques.

“The sporting activities taking place within the fantastic venues across the Olympic Park will be the focus of the world in 2012,” said Adam. “However, the Olympics Games will only be taking place following the unglamorous works of excavating, processing and treating earth, undertaking site investigations, treating contaminated materials and clearing and demolishing existing buildings on the site to construct the park and platform for the games. So, congratulations on the BCIA award to all of those who have been involved with Enabling Works.”