UK News

London 2012: Shopping for success

The frame of the 2012 Olympic main stadium stands out from among the piles of mud.

The skeletal metal structure, which will hold up the roof, rises above the construction site, three years ahead of the Games.

The only thing to challenge it is three concrete blocks – the shell of a massive shopping centre planned for the Olympic Park.

The Westfield centre may not be the centrepiece of the park in Stratford, east London, but it will be the main gateway.

Most visitors will have to walk through it to get to the venues. Organisers had once promoted the 242 million pound aquatics centre as the eye-catching gateway. Designed by the internationally renowned Iraqi-born architect Zaha Hadid, it will feature a wave-like roof that is so complicated extra money was needed for its construction.

Now it appears it will only be seen after going past rows of shop window fronts.

Westfield will form part of the legacy, providing shops, restaurants and cafes for residents living in the 3,000 flats and apartments after the Games.