The London Gate

This is the London Gate. It’s 100-metres tall and has some sort of bizarre glass elevator attached to it.

Until I’d seen it had been posted on Londonist, I was almost sure this was a wind up.

They’ve described it as a set of giant goalposts – goalposts which will sit at the beginning of High Street 2012 – the name given to the road which runs from the City straight through to Romford.

Intriguing stuff, and for those of us who think it looks a bit daft, there is one saving grace: it’s only temporary.

But then again – they said that about the Eiffel Tower.

Dezeen » Blog Archive » London Gate by Donis.

London 1948: £730,000

Quite a difference. Back then they were told nothing new could be built, instead having to make do with improved facilities – such as replacing the dog track around Wembley – then the Empire Stadium – with a running track.

BBC News – How to stage the Olympics on a shoestring.

You can read Kaycee’s blog on the London 2012 site, and I’m hoping to put a few questions to her myself very soon.

Above all, though, this programme shows that a lot of young people in and around Newham really do care about what’s going on around them.

BBC – CBBC Programmes – My Life, The Young Mayor of Newham.

Calling the ArcelorMittal Orbit controversial would be describing a pint in Covent Garden as ‘pricey’. In other words, a bit of an understatement.

For what it’s worth, I like it. And so too do Newham Council who today decided they would back the plans for the 114-metre high structure.

It looks a bit like a vuvuzela being strangled if you ask me…

Docklands24 – Iconic Olympic tower backed by local authorities.

Cheese: All smiles at the Mayor's show

I wasn’t able to make it along myself, but it certainly looks like a good time was had by all.

Newham Council have put a selection of good pictures up on their website, you should go and check them out.

From the East London Advertiser:

It was called off after Serco Docklands management made “an improved offer” to pay staff for the extra workload and more responsibilities with the introduction of a third carriage to DLR trains.

An overtime ban due to run tomorrow has also been scrapped by the union.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said: “Our members on the Docklands Light Railway have stood firm and delivered an overwhelming mandate for action which has enabled us to negotiate this new and improved offer from a position of strength.”

He said he was recommending that union members accepted the new offer.

East London Advertiser – DLR strikes called off.

Cornered: Will fans have any say over Hammers move?

East London football giants West Ham are edging closer to moving into the Olympic Stadium after 2012.

The club – with its new(ish) owners – have wanted it for some time, but now we’ve had the first real suggestion from shopping centre owners Westfield that they’d be delighted with the move too. Westfield’s Stratford City director, John Burton:

“Clearly there are statements saying we are opposed to West Ham and that is simply not correct. We will work with West Ham or anyone else for that matter in the delivery of a further use. The only criteria we would put around that is, given our role around access, that we have regular communication and co‑ordination to deal with any organisational issues.”

Two possible spanners in the works: AEG, the company behind the O2 have also bid.

And, understandably, many of the West Ham faithful are firmly against it. Not that that’s ever stopped a club moving in the past – just ask a Wimbledon/Millwall/Arsenal fan.

West Ham’s hopes of moving to Olympic Stadium after 2012 given boost | Football | The Guardian.

Ugly scenes: Less of this, we hope

The ever-dependable (mostly) Press Association reports:

Transport for London (TfL) said non-essential engineering upgrade work on London Underground, Docklands Light Railway and Tramlink would be suspended from July 17 2012 until the conclusion of the Paralympics on September 14.

Good. Surprised it was even an option to be running engineering works while the Games were on, to be honest. But a bit lower down in the same article is something that will be of more interest to us:

However, NR warned of “additional and enhanced maintenance work” on the Olympic routes in the weeks and months leading up to the “work-free” period to get the track ready for increased demand.

It’s a bit of give and take I guess. I just hope we don’t find ourselves looking stupid in the face of more strikes.

The Press Association: Rail work to be suspended during Olympics.

Chief exec of British Fencing Piers Martin had this to say:

“We are looking to make the sport sustainable and we want our clubs to go out into the community and create a social network.

“Our vision is to make a world-leading fencing family and we want to shatter the image that fencing is a rich, middle-class sport.”

British Fencing looks to inner-city projects to stretch beyond London 2012 Olympics – Telegraph.