Green build NEWS

Athletes arriving in Britain today will be able to visit the One Planet Centre in the Olympic Athlete’s Village, opened by environment secretary Caroline Spelman.

The centre aims to inspire athletes to use their role-model qualities to promote sustainability in their home countries whether by social media while at the Games or by taking up ambassador positions on their return from London. The London 2012 organisers hope that caring for the environment, reducing waste and cutting energy use and carbon will be a legacy of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

 

During the Games, athletes will write pledges to care for the environment and share tales of what is being done in each nation represented at the Games on the walls of the centre.

 

Each athlete who takes a pledge to protect their environment will place a pin in a central globe to mark their home.

 

Built from sustainable materials, the centre showcases how the entire Olympic site was constructed in this way. Co-funded by Defra, Coca Cola and social enterprise Bioregional, it demonstrates collaboration between government, charity and business.

 

The Royal College of Art has designed accompanying ‘sustainability circles’ while athletes who wish to find out more about the creation of the park will meet at the centre for ‘a walk in the Olympic Park’.