Trips to London for Urban Planning Students

HALF & FULL DAY OPTION AVAILABLE

Come and witness the legacy of London 2012 and see the Olympic Park area following the exciting urban regeneration programme which transformed the face of East London. Your Blue Badge Guide can take you even closer to the venues, driving right next to the Velodrome, the BMX track, and the Olympic and the Paralympic Villages. The coach will travel around the edge of the Olympic Park before making a stop at the Olympic Stadium, the Aquatics Centre and the Orbit. The tour also affords fantastic views of the International Broadcast Centre and the Copper Box venue. Weather permitting, there are opportunities to get off the coach and explore.

You’ll then head to the Royal Docks to view ExCel, which hosted seven Olympic sports and five Paralympic sports. Then to Woolwich to see the magnificent facade of the Royal Artillery Barracks, the venue for shooting and for the Paralympic archery. The tour ends at Greenwich with a walk in the Park where the Equestrian events and the Modern Pentathlon had such a spectacular setting.

Tours can be tailored to a group’s specific requirements.

Students coming on a tour can see first-hand how waste and recyclables are managed at the 40 acre LondonWaste EcoPark site. Groups studying geography can incorporate what they have learnt into their study/course work. EcoPark tours are held every Wednesday and they accept students from 14 years and upwards and tours are free to students in the UK. Students are able to visit the following areas:

The Compost Centre – makes compost from food and garden waste collected from the seven north London boroughs. Once EcoPark compost is matured it
is used by farmers, allotment holders, community growing projects, schools and for compost giveaways.

The Energy Centre – produces energy from black bagged waste. Around 20% of the energy is used to power the LondonWaste EcoPark and the remaining electricity is transferred to the National Grid.

Control Room – a chance to talk to engineers about the Energy Centre.

The Thames Barrier is one of the largest movable flood barriers in the world. The barrier spans 520 metres across the River Thames near Woolwich, and it protects 125 square kilometres of central London from flooding caused by tidal surges. An Information Assistant will give your group a guided tour of the Information Centre and deliver a talk covering topics such as the history of the River Thames and the risk of flooding in London, as well as describing the environment and wildlife of the river. The talk lasts approximately an hour and a half. When visiting on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday (when the centre is closed to the public) exclusive use of the conference room with refreshments and cakes is also provided.

London Wetland Centre is unique in being the first created wetland habitat to have been developed in any capital city in the world. Over five years the area has been transformed by WWT from 43 hectares of concrete reservoirs into an impressively diverse wetland reserve and visitor attraction.

The exhibition includes time pieces, a history of the building as a working observatory, the Greenwich Meridian line, the history of time and astronomy and the giant refracting telescope.

Tour of the Information Centre with an Information Assistant. The talk covers topics including the history of the river, the risk of flooding in London, describing the environment and wildlife of the Thames.