Olympics media centre set to become datacentre

The Olympics media centre looks set to become a datacentre after the Games, with technology company iCITY one of two remaining bidders for the legacy of the site.

The company's bid would turn the building into a cloud computing centre and research labs. A spokesman from iCITY said he was unable to go into details about the bid, but said a London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) board meeting is expected to name a preferred bidder in the next 48 hours.

The building has 31,000 square metres of office, with over 1,300 internet ports and 600km of fibre optic and copper cabling.

More than 20,000 journalists are expected to pass through the Olympics, a greater amount than the number of athletes attending the London 2012 Games. The building has a workspace for 6,000 journalists.

Ian Foddering, CTO at Games sponsor Cisco, told Computer Weekly during a recent tour of the media centre that a datacentre is the most logical use for the site because of the connectivity of the building. There is a high demand for datacentres and the site is close to Canary Wharf, an area in need of a large amount of computing power, he said.

Three proposals were originally made for the use of the site after the Games, including UK Fashion Hub and French sports manufacturer the Oxylane Group.

But according to Estates Gazette, iCITY is likely to be named preferred bidder. Rival bidder UK Fashion Hubs recently pulled out of the running, it reported. UK Fashion Hubs told Estates Gazette in a statement: "Press coverage over the past two days has reported leaks that suggest a decision has already been taken to appoint iCITY as the preferred bidder, despite the LLDC board meeting scheduled for 17 July to make that decision.

"This, and other issues, have compounded the unease felt by the UKFH team that the process has not been as transparent as it should be and therefore the decision has been taken to withdraw,” it said. 

Previously reports had suggested that the £308m media and broadcast centre could be knocked down after the Olympics.