Greenwich Park ground preparation work begins for 2012

Work will begin this week at Greenwich Park to prepare it to be the Olympic Equestrian venue. The work will be carried out by sub-contractors working on behalf of the London 2012 Olympic Organising Committee (LOCOG) in association with The Royal Parks.


The works have been approved by the local planning authority, Greenwich Council, who granted planning permission in March 2010 for both the test event in 2011 and events in 2012, subject to a number of planning conditions. LOCOG is now discharging a number of these planning conditions which have been agreed with the four statutory consultees - The Royal Parks, English Heritage, Natural England, and Sport England.

The route of the Cross Country course will be marked out in August to clearly identify the course for ground preparation work. The work itself will improve the condition of the grass in the Park for the route of the Cross Country course which involves reducing the hardness of the ground, and ensuring the grass is sufficiently watered. Temporary artificial grass tuft markers will be used which will remain in place until the course is visible when they will be carefully removed. These markers are used in many sports grounds to mark out playing fields.

The works will include:

• Irrigation – Water will be applied to the course from time to time to help the grass to grow and to develop stronger root systems. Because of the dry summer, this will happen daily for the first few weeks;

• De-compaction – Over many years of use the ground in the Park has become closely packed together. Works will reduce this compaction, which in turn will improve the quality of the grass by allowing roots to develop and strengthen;

• Mowing – Specialist mowers will encourage a thicker, stronger sward of grass;

• Other works will include the filling of minor and localised hollows in the ground using topsoil and turf, the removal of stones from certain areas of the Cross Country course, fertilisation of the ground and some re-seeding of areas where grass cover is poor.

Enhancement works to increase areas of acid grassland elsewhere in the Park will also commence, as part of the LOCOG-funded restoration programme. This will result in an increase in the quality of acid grassland, once re-instatement works are complete.

Much of the work is similar to that which is carried out by The Royal Parks and their contractors on a regular basis in Greenwich Park throughout the year such as mowing, slitting of the ground to aerate the soil, and selected watering.

Ground improvement work will begin in August 2010 and continue throughout 2011 and up to the Games in July 2012. The regularity will vary depending on weather and ground conditions. Some works funded by LOCOG will continue beyond the Games to ensure the Park is returned to its previous condition as part of LOCOG’s commitment to re-instate the Park.