Aquatics Centre, London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games

The Aquatics Centre is a centrepiece of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Already now before the opening of the Games it is regarded as an iconic legacy building. The building comprises a 50 m competition pool and 25 m dive pool under the wave-form roof of the main pool hall. A 50 m training pool is situated beneath the Olympic Park entrance plaza structure which is built integrally with the rest of the building.

The engineering strategy has been developed around two basic configurations; the Games mode and Legacy Mode. In the Games mode the facility has a maximum gross spectator capacity of 17 500 for use for the London 2012 Games as well as housing facilities for the running of these events. In that mode temporary stands to the east and west of the competition and diving pools will seat approx. 15 000 spectators. In the legacy mode the building temporary seating will be dismantled and the building will be a permanent pool facility for the local community as well as national and international swimming events beyond the Games.

Each pool tank is provided with a combination of floating floors and movable sub-division boom bulkheads to allow multiple legacy and community use.