(Getty Images)(ATR) The London 2012 swimming venue billed as the 'Gateway to the Games' is starting to take shape on the Olympic Park.
The Olympic Delivery Authority today released new images showing construction progress on the aquatics center.
Work is complete on the southern roof support for the 160-meter long wave shape roof of the Zaha Hadid-designed facility.
Installation of two northern supports for the 2,800-ton steel roof will begin in the spring. More than 3,000 tons of concrete has been poured to create the base of one of the supports; the other support is being built, with four meters high of concrete already poured.
The $457 million venue will include a 50m pool, a 25m diving pool and a 50 training pool.
With a 17,500 Games capacity, it will stage swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, water polo finals and the swimming discipline of modern pentathlon.
Post-Games, temporary seating will be removed to leave a 2,500-seat venue that will serve elite sport and provide for community use.
The ODA said the pools are excavated and three quarters of the foundations are already complete with around 1,000 concrete piles driven up to 25 meters into the ground.
The concrete (Getty Images)foundations are also being built for the supports of the huge land bridge that will form the roof of the 50m training pools and the main pedestrian access to the Olympic Park in Games and legacy.
The ODA said that work had surged ahead on the center since construction started two months earlier than planned in the summer following a challenging clean-up of one of the most contaminated parts of the Olympic Park site.
"I have always thought that seeing is believing on a project like this and the skyline in east London is already beginning to alter as venues begin to be built," said LOCOG chair Sebastian Coe.
This is a much-needed facility in London and one which will benefit both London's elite athletes and the local community.
Balfour Beatty is building the swimming venue along with the land bridge that forms the roof of the training pool and the main pedestrian access to the Olympic Park.
Construction is scheduled for completion in 2011, allowing the venue to stage test events ahead of the Games.
With reporting from Mark Bisson.
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