Construction of apartment service cores is well unde rway on athletes' village

The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) has unveiled new images of the 2012 Olympic village, showing construction on site and visualisations of the completed scheme.

The village will include 17,000 beds in 11 residential blocks during the Games and be converted into 2,818 homes in legacy mode.

Plans also include 10ha of parklands and open space. Each residential block will have a 2,400m2 courtyard with gardens and play areas. There will also be an 1,800-place educational facility, the Chobham Academy.

The size of the village has been scaled back twice since 2008 but the Olympic organisers today insisted the development would not be crowded for athletes as a result.

Jonathan Edwards, former Olympian and member of the London 2012 board, said: “My experience of going to Olympics events was that villages are to be endured rather than enjoyed.

“I’m very confident this is going to be a very positive experience for athletes.”

There are currently 1,000 workers on the site and this is expected to peak at about 3,500. Piling has started on all the blocks except one and construction of the Chobham Academy is due to start this month.

Javelin's view of the athletes' village