Lee Valley White Water Centre

Key facts

Construction on the new courses started in July 2009. The venue is now complete and opened in spring 2011 as the only brand new London 2012 venue that the public can use ahead of the Games.

During the Games

Two new canoe slalom courses are being built for the Games: a 300m competition course and a 160m intermediate/training course. A new 10,000sq m lake is also being constructed. This will feed a system of pumps that will provide the 300m course with 15 cubic metres of water per second. The white water will be created by these pumps and obstacles placed in the course.

Venue facilities

The Lee Valley White Water Centre is located in the heart of the 10,000-acre Lee Valley Regional Park, on a 10-hectare site covering an area the equivalent of 25 full-size football pitches. Facilities include:

• An Olympic standard 300m competition course, with a boat conveyor to transport participants to the course start in their rafts or canoes.
• A 160m intermediate/training course. The intermediate course will help create an inclusive and comprehensive sports programme in legacy from novice paddler through to elite competitors.
• Finish lake covering an area of 10,000m2 (1 hectare/2.5 acres).
• A facility building and pumping house, containing a reception, café, changing rooms, offices, spectator viewing facilities, storage, and water pump/filtration plant.
• Landscaping works, with path and bridge networks throughout the venue to facilitate spectator viewing and access.
• World-class white water conditions. The key course features are two drops and a straight run of continuous white water.

After the Games

The two courses and the facilities building will remain but the temporary seats will be removed. The Centre will become a venue for canoeing and kayaking for the local community and visitors, and be suitable for beginners to elite athletes. It will also be a major leisure attraction for white water rafting. It will be owned, funded and managed by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority. The centre will offer an extensive sports development programme, run in partnership with the British Canoe Union.

Legacy

• The Lee Valley White Water Centre will be used for Games training and testing in early 2011 and will open to the public for rafting and canoeing in April 2011.
• After the Games, the temporary spectator seating will be removed, and the venue will be developed into the Lee Valley White Water Centre.
• It will be a major leisure attraction for canoeing and white water rafting as well as a venue for future international competition and sports development opportunities
• Further details are available at www.gowhitewater.co.uk

Venue construction

• The ODA started construction work on the venue in July 2009 and there were more than 150 workers on site at peak of construction activity.
• Over 150,000 cubic metres of material was put in place to form the canoe course embankments and the venue landscaping – enough to fill the Royal Albert Hall.
• Five water pumps installed on the Olympic course each weighing 5 tonnes.
• 62 gates installed on the Olympic course and 1200 rapid blocs installed as obstacles on the Olympic and intermediate courses.
• The facilities will be joined by extensive new landscaping, plants and wildlife habitats that will help improve the sustainability and ecology of the local area.
• Sustainability elements in the venue design include capturing and reusing heat from the pumps to heat the venue buildings; providing two flexible courses where only one course need run at any time in legacy; and water from both channels being recycled and fed back into the lake.

You can vist the London 2012 Olympic Games Canoe Slalom page here. 

Website: www.leevalleypark.org.uk