A tale of two villages

Sydney and Athens both planned for the future with their Olympic Villages

Housing an army of athletes, Olympic officials and other visitors for the duration of the Games is an enormous undertaking. A modern Olympic Village must be constructed and run with clockwork precision, and planning for every aspect of its future after the last guest has left must be carried out long before the first foundation is laid. In Sydney and Athens, what happened to the Village after the Games is as much a measure of its success as its hospitality to its guests during them.

Sydney Olympic Village was built with the future in mind

Sustainability is a crucial feature of any Olympic Village. The fate of the area once the Games move on will have as much of an effect on the success of the project as the Games themselves. In Sydney, the Village that housed 15,300 athletes and officials was converted to 2,000 homes, which will provide housing for approximately 5,000 people.

Built on a brownfield site in the suburb of Newington, and in the middle of the main Olympic site, Sydney’s Olympic Village was conceived to create an example of environmental best practice that will eventually be replicated in residential areas in other Australian cities. The site’s development began in June 1997, and though the Games were held in 2000, it will continue to grow until 2007, depending on market demand.

The New South Wales government Olympic Co-ordination Authority (OCA) requested this sustainable approach as part of its promise to deliver a “green” Olympics. Once the Games were over the Village was left in the hands of Pacific Power, who remained contracted as homeowners until the sale of the houses to residential customers.

The Village is the world’s largest solar-powered residential area. This commitment demonstrates to visitors and overseas investors the commercial potential of renewable energy technology.

The roofs of the Village were integrated with a waterproof metal sub-tray. Frameless BP Solar high efficiency Saturn PV module laminates, using monocrystalline silicon cell technology, were fixed onto the roofs. Compliance with Australian building load, health and safety specifications and electrical standards was also important. In order to prevent animals and falling leaves entering the system from behind the panels, they were then covered with a mesh. It was hoped that each system would deliver 1600 kWh per annum, but so far on average it has been closer to 1400-1500 kWh each year of operation.

Athen's Olympic Village wil eventually provide
homes to 10,0000 people

As well as innovative power supplies, the host nation was also forward thinking in the Village’s water supply. Whilst other parts of the world have been using dual water supply systems for decades, in Australia, they are almost nonexistent. Drinking water diverted from Sydney is supplied in one pipe, and then after the Games ended, a second line was introduced to deliver fully treated recycled water for toilets and irrigation. Used water is cleaned at an on-site filtration plant, before being released onto the local wetlands, where it is filtered for a second time through the marshes, before being reused in Newington’s houses, commercial buildings and parklands.

So far the houses are selling well, and development on the site continues. In providing a cost-effective solution to Olympic housing, the Sydney Olympic Village has transformed the idea of a “green” development from a utopian dream into a proposal that is financially enticing even to hard-nosed property developers.

Four years later, the Olympic Village in Athens was also built with the residential future of the complex very much in mind.

Covering an area of 310 acres, the Athens Village is located 11km from the Olympic Stadium in northern Athens, opening on 29 July, with the Greek canoe and kayak team first to move in.

The complex was built with a budget of USD 300m and featured 2,292 homes, housing 17,600 athletes and officials. Now the Games are over, the Village will eventually provide homes to approximately 10,000 people in accordance with Greek housing programmes. In order to create architectural variety, 14 different types of home are being built under the watchful eye of WS Atkins, a British engineering firm.

Disabled competitors have unrestricted access to the Village’s two, three and four-storey air-conditioned buildings. Ramps and elevators provide access to the upper floors, and the outside areas feature specialised landscaping adaptations to accommodate athletes with physical disabilities. As the Village was home to a further 4,000 athletes, 2,000 team officials and 1,000 judges and staff during the Paralympics, this was essential.

Athen's village prior ro finishing touches being added

During the Games, various short-term challenges had to be met. For example, providing food for the largest Village in Olympic history, for the athletes and officials, as well as visiting journalists, dignitaries and contractors, was an enormous task. With approximately 22,000 customers needing to be fed on a 24-hour basis, 50,000 meals were served daily from 1,500 international recipes.

Various firms, including Britain’s P&O Services, worked under the supervision of ATHENS 2004 Food Services Department to prepare upwards of 6,000 meals every hour. 17,000 staff used 15,000 litres of milk, 2,500 dozen eggs, 300 tonnes of fruits and vegetables, 120 tonnes of meats, 85 tonnes of seafood, 25,000 loaves of bread, 750 litres of tomato sauce, and 2 million litres of potable water to cater for guests.

All the innovation and careful attention to detail seen in these two Villages would amount to nothing without the approval of the residents.

Kate Allenby, a British Olympian who competed in both Sydney and Athens, winning the bronze medal in Modern Pentathlon at Sydney, was lucky enough to stay at both Athens and Sydney.

“The training facilities were better in Athens; there was a swimming pool and more space to run – in Sydney we just had a 400 metre track, which I ended up running around far too many times, as you can imagine, if you want to run for 35 minutes,” she says.

“Training facilities are actually a bit of a second thought when it comes to the Village. You can imagine, with so many athletes staying, it’d be difficult to cater for them all anyway. On top of that, the Village has to be kept secure, which means keeping the size down. “

Allenby stayed in Sydney twice, once for the opening ceremony and once before the event. “At the start the atmosphere was kind of a nervous disquiet, with everyone having trained for their job, and now just waiting to do it. When we returned to compete towards the end, a lot of people had already done their events, so there were a lot of parties going on, but everyone was very respectful and there wasn’t too much noise. Staying in Athens, I think athletes felt more involved with the Village – every morning teams would jog past in training, and there was a really good atmosphere.”

It’s not just athletes who stay at the Village. The president of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, who has stayed at 16 Olympic Villages during his time with the organisation, was quick to offer praise for the Athens site. After his first night, he said: “This is the best Village I've seen.”

For all the innovation with design and engineering, sometimes it’s the unexpected that can turn an athlete’s stay into something special. In Allenby’s case it was something that no amount of clever design or economic forethought could provide - the very thrill of being at the Games.

“I preferred staying in Sydney, purely because of the location - I had a view of the stadium and the Olympic Flame from my room,” she says. “Every day I woke up feeling very ‘Olympic’!”