EDF Pavilion – Olympic Park London
Client: Nussli
Project Specification
- 45m2 of New Lawn
EDF Pavilion Olympic Park London – The Project
As one of the main partners and official supplier of electricity for the 2012 London Olympic games, EDF had commissioned a media and hospitality pavilion at a prime location on the north side of the athletics stadium, next to the river and the beautiful landscaped gardens. A lovely position, which sits in the morning shade of the award winning Populous designed arena.
Swiss company Nussli, specialists in events structures, were contracted with the design and construction of the two floor, curved, asymmetric pavilion and we were in turn hired by them to install the steeply banked lawn which runs around two sides of the building.
Technically, this was a very straightforward install requiring some 18 tons of topsoil and just 45m2 of turf, which would be completed in one day. Logistics and security constraints dictated that we had to have all of our materials delivered the day before, so that everything was in place for our early start.
The install itself was relatively simple, a boomerang shaped lawn in plan, going around two sides of the pavilion, banked steeply up to the apex of the curve to a height of 800mm from either end. Sixteen tons of topsoil were required to build up the banking which was then top dressed with two tons of Rowlawn “Seed & Turf” fertiliser enriched topsoil, which would greatly speed up the rooting process of the new turf.
Unlike our usual domestic installs where bulk bags of soil would have to be bagged into smaller bags and carried through the house, this was a real pleasure. A forklift and driver were provided for us to lift the bulk bags of soil into position and drop into place exactly where required.
Once the bank had been sculpted and dressed, Rowlawn “Medallion“ turf was laid into position, trimmed and gently tamped down using a board and large rubber mallets. The only remaining thing to do, was give it a good watering. However, the external water supply was still in the process of being installed and would not have been completed until the following day. Our only option was to use some empty containers from the water fountain in the contactors canteen area, filling them up from the taps in the toilets and then carry them over to the lawn and water by hand.
The final result, whilst very simple, provides a lush green organic touch to the interesting asymmetric white pavilion – a green sweeping bank that can be reclined on whilst gazing up at the athletics stadium across the river and taking in the views of the lush gardens across the Olympic Park.
