London Stadium
London Stadium was designed by architects Populous for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The design means that the competition level and lower tier of seating sit in a bowl dug out of the site. During excavation, 800,000 tonnes of soil were removed – enough to fill the Royal Albert Hall nine times over.
Today the stadium is home to West Ham United and UK Athletics.
West Ham Utd was formed in 1900, its forerunner being Thames Ironworks FC the team who played for the local ironworks and shipbuilding company that operated at the mouth of Bow Creek between 1837 and 1912. West Ham’s emblem is two crossed riveting hammers, a reminder of the club’s origins.
Image credit:
Thames Ironworks Football Club, 1896. Courtesy of Newham Archives and Local Studies Library