Trees to Take Root in Olympic Park
London 2012 trees are to take root in the Olympic Park to serve as a permanent reminder of the Games...
A major public art commission will see a collection of large trees - each supporting a bespoke metal ring weighing up to half-a-tonne - planted to mark the entrances to the 500-acre Olympic Park.
Planning permission has been granted for the art work, which was developed by renowned British artists Ackroyd and Harvey, and funded by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and Arts Council England as a permanent reminder of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The ten trees will be the largest in the Olympic Park - reaching up to 18 metres tall. Three species will take root in time for the Games and the remaining seven will be planted in legacy.
Once planted, each tree will have a large ring, engineered from either phosphored bronze or stainless steel and weighing up to 500kg, securely placed in the crown. The tree branches and ring will slowly fuse together over time.
Two of the Games-time trees - a Red Oak and a Silver Lime - were planted over the weekend with the remaining tree - 
a Common Ash - to arrive early next year.
The metal rings will be fitted next Spring.
The trees have been sourced through a British nursery and have been selected to reflect the diversity of the wider area and the international spirit of the Games.
The rings will be six metres in diameter and engraved on the interior face with text capturing an archive of history in nine of the ten locations. The tenth tree - an English Oak - will hold a bronze ring inscribed with local residents’ recollections of the area.
The shadow cast by this ring will be permanently captured by being inlayed onto the ground in bronze, and each year the shadow and ring will momentarily align to commemorate the a significant date and time during the London 2012 Games.
The nine history rings will encapsulate a broad range of information relevant to each location, drawing on sources as varied as the Museum of London archaeological surveys, ecological studies and details of businesses that had previously inhabited the site.
The tenth ring embraces the nature of the Olympic Park as experienced by communities living around the five Host Boroughs through personal accounts.
As part of the project, the ODA has also commissioned local artist Lucy Harrison to engage with local communities about this work.
The Mapping Your Manor project has seen Lucy produce an audio soundtrack for each of the areas around the Entrance Markers, made in collaboration with local people. It was launched in December, with tracks available for download from: www.mappingyourmanor.com
Lucy worked in collaboration with local walking group, the Newham Striders, to explore the areas around the edge of the Park, and invited a range of people to be recorded - sharing their stories, memories, poems, songs and even cookery sessions.
A book containing further information, images, and a text by local writer Iain Aitch, is also being published.
In addition to some 4,000 semi-mature trees, the Olympic Park features more than 300,000 wetland plants and in excess of ten football fields' worth of nectar-rich annual and perennial meadows designed and sown to flower during the Games.
One of the most significant trees to be planted on the park is an English Oak that will be placed in the riverside Royal Horticultural Society Great British Garden that overlooks the Olympic Stadium.
The 'de Coubertin oak' was grown at Kew Gardens from an acorn collected from the tree that Baron De Coubertin planted to thank the citizens of Much Wenlock for inspiring the founding of the modern Olympic Games.
This historical reference provided the artists a rich source of research and inspiration.
www.london2012.com