London has been awarded £67.5M ($103M) in contracts to redevelop the Olympic Stadium and also "plans to construct the U.K.'s biggest indoor ski slope," according to Danielle Rossingh of BLOOMBERG. London Mayor Boris Johnson said that Australia's Westfield Group "will be making a planning application for the city's first indoor ski center next to its Stratford shopping center at the Olympic Park by the end of the summer." Johnson said the ski center forms part of "an astonishing economic story of regeneration of east London." Johnson and the London Legacy Development Corp. also announced a £41M ($62M) contract with Balfour Beatty Plc. to build a new roof that will help turn the Olympic Stadium into "an all-round multi-use venue" that is fit to deliver a lasting sporting and commercial legacy in east London (BLOOMBERG, 7/25). In London, Pippa Crerar wrote London's first indoor ski center "will feature several runs of varying difficulty, snowboard ramps and an ice-skating rink." It is believed the project, which will cost up to £200M ($307M), "could be ready to open" in '15. The longest run will be 300 meters -- twice the length of the next biggest one in the U.K. -- "recreating Alpine skiing conditions." There will also be toboggan runs and snow-play zones "where children and beginners can get used to the sub-zero temperatures." Johnson said, "One year on from London's Olympic and Paralympic Games and we are defying the sceptics who prophesied a herd of white elephants" (EVENING STANDARD, 7/25).
NEW ROOF: CONSTRUCTION NEWS' Sarah Dennis wrote Balfour Beatty will dismantle and remove the Olympic Stadium's existing roof and floodlight towers in the first part of the works, "while a cable net system will support the new roof," with 600-ton cranes operating within the stadium to then tandem lift the supporting roof steelwork into place. When completed, "the roof will be twice its original size." Work "is due to start in the autumn with completion set for spring" '15 (CONSTRUCTION NEWS, 7/25).
