GROUND clearance has started for one of the last venues to be built on the Olympic Park, on the day contractors have named for the 5,000-seat Water Polo arena.

A CONSTRUCTION company pushed out to make way for the 2012 Olympics in East London is returning to help build it.

Ground clearance has started for one of the last venues to be built on the Olympic Park, on the day contractors are named for the 5,000-seat Water Polo arena.

Main contract goes to ES Construction, which had to shift from its headquarters near Hackney Wick when London won the bid for the 2012 Games.

The company, which specialise in stages and support structures for major events, including the 2010 Ryder Cup, has got the contract for the main structure. The company is now based in Silvertown, four miles from the Olympics Park.

Work starts on the substructure in early March, after the ground clearance which began today.

The temporary venue will have a distinguishable silver ‘wrap’ and inflatable roof made from recyclable plastic.

The wedge-shaped arena, rising up to 75ft above ground, will stage the Men’s and Women’s water polo competition in a 37metre-long pool.

The whole structure will then be taken down after the Games with some parts being reused elsewhere, including materials to be rented, to reduce construction waste.

The venue is to be at the main eastern entrance to the 500-acre Games site next to the Aquatics Centre, facing Bow Bridge and the Lea River. Both venues will form a ‘gateway’ to the Olympic Park when spectators arrive in 2012.