Stratford City

Stratford City is a mixed-use development project in Stratford, London, England, to the north of Stratford town centre. The main developers are the Westfield Group and Lendlease.

Stratford City is the name given to the urban community centred on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Based on Stratford Regional and Stratford International railway stations, it includes "International Quarter London", a joint venture between Lendlease and London and Continental Railways (LCR) to create a £2 billion commercial and residential development, the Westfield shopping centre, Chobham Academy, and the East Village, previously the athletes' village constructed by Lendlease for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Within Stratford City there is provision for 2900000 sqft of retail and leisure space, 1300000 sqft of hotel space, 6600000 sqft of commercial district space, 16,400 new homes, 180000 sqft of community facilities, and two energy centres capable of providing 75% of the sites' energy needs. Royal Mail has allocated the postcode E20 to Stratford City and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Planning
The whole Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park site was proposed to be secured under a compulsory purchase order (CPO) by the London Development Agency. In late 2005, a row broke out between then Mayor of London Ken Livingstone and Newham Council/Westfield over the use of the legal instrument. The site for the Olympic Village was to be located next to the £4 billion development of Stratford City, but access difficulties meant that the Olympic Park CPO extended onto the site for Stratford City. In November 2005, an agreement was made whereby the CPO over the Westfield site was removed, subject to agreed access provisions to the Olympic Village.

The Olympic Village, home of the athletes during the 2012 Summer Games and was built as part of Lend Lease, would be redeveloped at the new East Village urban development as part of the legacy project.

Construction
Work started in early 2007, and the entire project was completed in 2012. Work was carried out in phases, with Phase 1 completed in 2011. Phase 1 includes 1.9 million ft2 (150,000 m2) of retail and leisure space (see Westfield Stratford City), a 267-room Premier Inn hotel, 1.1m ft2 of office space, and 4,850 new homes. The office space comprises a cluster of four tall office buildings: Stratford Place, at 130,000 ft2; The Square, at 200,000 ft2; First Avenue, at over 560,000 ft2; and Station Square, at 95,000 ft2.

Transport
The site is adjacent to both the existing Stratford Regional station and the new Stratford International station. Stratford Regional station is served by London Overground, Docklands Light Railway, London Underground Central and Jubilee lines, National Rail services, and the Elizabeth line. Stratford International station is served by Southeastern domestic services on High Speed 1 and Docklands Light Railway services to London City Airport, Beckton and Woolwich Arsenal. Currently, no international services call at Stratford International. A pedestrian bridge connects the development to the existing Stratford town centre.