Designing and running Olympic venues in legacy

Creating the perfect blend

author:
Shaun Dawson, Chief Executive of Lee Valley Regional Park Authority

London is generally held to be the best planned legacy from any Olympic Games – a million miles away from the sadly numerous examples around the world of grand unused sporting edifices from showpiece events like the Olympics. In this article Shaun Dawson will share how balancing community use and commercial ­opportunity has been the golden thread leading to the three London 2012 legacy venues for which he is ­responsible being popular and successful exemplars of well-executed legacy.

As Chief Executive of Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, I oversee an eclectic 26 mile, 10,000 acre (42 km / 4,000 ha) park which starts on the banks of the River Thames in a constantly changing area of east London, stretches through what is now Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, and out to Hertfordshire.