Villages

To provide the best possible competitive conditions for the 2010 Winter Games athletes, VANOC will operate two state-of-the-art, fully functional Olympic Villages in spectacular settings: one on Vancouver's metropolitan inner harbour, offering extraordinary views of the city skyline and the North Shore mountains; and one surrounded by magnificent coastal forests adjacent to the majestic Cheakamus River Gorge at the south entrance to Whistler. Both Villages will also serve as the Paralympic Village, with collectively approximately 450 beds designed for wheelchair access.

Both Villages will provide everything that athletes need to prepare, train, relax, contact home, make friends and soak up the experience of a lifetime.

As honoured guests, the athletes will be able to travel conveniently between the two Villages, so they can fully enjoy all the charm of the Vancouver-Whistler region. The two Villages will also be linked with the latest in communication technology.

After the Games, both Villages will become valuable legacies, both for the community and for sport. The Vancouver Village will be developed into a model sustainable community with market and affordable housing, parkland, and office and shopping complexes. The Whistler Village provides the opportunity to leave much-needed affordable resident housing in a new neighbourhood that will be a model of sustainable living, and will also accommodate an Athlete Centre. Part of the Village facilities will be used to provide a best-value legacy to the Squamish and Lil'wat First Nations communities, either as relocated housing, rental housing within the legacy neighbourhood, or as commercial space opportunities.

The City of Vancouver has produced a short video on the development of the Vancouver Olympic Village. Visit gvtv.ca to watch the video.

Located in Vancouver’s Southeast False Creek area, the Vancouver Olympic Village features modern low- and mid-rise accommodations for 2,100 athletes and officials and sits an average distance of 12 kilometres from Vancouver area competition venues. Athletes will be able to walk, bus or take a ferry to the city's shopping and entertainment districts, and enjoy nightly medal ceremonies and cultural celebrations just moments away at BC Place Stadium.

Construction Update
Development of the Village in southeast False Creek will be carried out by the City of Vancouver, in cooperation with VANOC and will conform to the City's plans to create a sustainable community in this area. The 1,100-unit project represents the final stage in the complete renewal of the False Creek site, started by the three levels of government in the 1970s. Site preparation and infrastructure work began in February 2006. Building construction is proceeding on schedule with completion scheduled for the third quarter of 2009.  Temporary structures for the Games will be set up beginning in September 2009. Removal of temporary structures will start in March 2010 when the Village will assume its post-Games legacy design.

To date, restoration of the Heritage Salt Building foundation is complete, Development Permit Applications have been accepted and excavation has begun on 6 of 8 parcels (all Development Permits will be finalized by summer 2007) and the City of Vancouver site servicing, road building and waterfront restoration work is 90 per cent complete.

The Whistler Olympic and Paralympic Village site is located within the scenic Cheakamus Valley. Designed for 2,400 athletes and officials, the Whistler Olympic and Paralympic Village is less than 20 minutes from all the Whistler competition venues. A short shuttle ride will take athletes to the heart of Whistler Village and the nightly medal ceremonies at the Whistler Celebration Site in the town's centre.

Construction Update
The master plan includes the development of site infrastructure, residential accommodation, commercial spaces, external landscape and trail network, and preparation of sites for overlay locations to be completed prior to the site hand-over to VANOC on November 1, 2009. Road, rail and site grading will maximize accessibility across the new subdivision. Where lands are intended for an alternate legacy use, they will be prepared to the extent required for Games-time.

To date, site preparation work was completed in November 2006, ahead of schedule. Utilities installation and road building began, as of April 1, 2007, and is progressing on schedule. Architectural design concepts for the town homes have been developed and submitted as a Development Permit to the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW), the engineering design of all roads is substantially complete, and the Whistler Athlete Centre high performance facility Development Permit application has been submitted. In 2007, construction of the residential zone and the Whistler Athlete Centre will commence, and the decommissioning of the Municipal Landfill will be complete.

Temporary structures for the Games will be set up starting in September 2009. Removal of temporary structures will start in March 2010 and the Village will assume its post-Games legacy design.