LDA Design confirmed for Olympic Park scheme

A team led by LDA Design has been confirmed as the winner of a scheme to masterplan the UCL East campus, a key part of the Olympicopolis development in east London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, as first revealed by Building.

The team also includes Nicholas Hare Architects, Buro Happold, EC Harris, Studio Weave, Momentum Transport Planning and Soundings.

A new campus for the university will be built on a 4.5ha site south of Zaha Hadid’s aquatics centre in the Olympic park.

The campus forms part of the wider planned Olympicopolis educational and cultural quarter, which is also earmarked for offshoot developments by the Victoria & Albert Museum, the University of the Arts and Sadler’s Wells.

LDA partner Selina Mason said: “It will be an exemplar of how universities will work in the future: a place and institution which is genuinely accessible, outward looking, integrated into the community, and a setting for collaboration. ”

The first phase of UCL East will be a 50,000sq m development and will incorporate UCL Generator, the university’s first school of design; the UCL Museum of the Future, which will feature immersive exhibition galleries, collections libraries, studio and performance spaces; and the UCL Centre for Experimental Engineering. This phase is due to be ready for the 2018/19 academic year

The London Legacy Development Corporation, which is overseeing the development of the Olympic Park, is also in talks with American museum and research organisation the Smithsonian over creating a presence at the site.

LDA Design saw off competition from shortlisted bids led by Aecom, Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands, Make and Allies & Morrison.