London goes Olympic.

The London bombings in July cast a shadow over the remarkable news that the city, and in particular its east side, would be the host for the 2012 Olympic Games. Since the British bid started a year after other competitors (political indecision), and given the relatively critical first report on London's capabilities by technical appraisers, most Londoners had assumed that the city would come second to the favourite, Paris. In the event, the combination of a first-rate technical and design bid, the regeneration legacy and highly organised political and sporting lobbying proved successful. Inept comments by the French president helped London snatch victory from the jaws of defeat to stage its third Games, following 1908 and 1948.

As far as architecture is concerned, all bets are off as to who exactly will do what. The competition-winning masterplanning team (planners EDAW and architects Allies & Morrison and Foreign Office Architects) are not, at the time of writing, being automatically retained in an overall capacity. The conceptual work which has taken place to produce images of potential buildings for the Olympics has been just that--conceptual. No doubt there will be a range of competitions for individual buildings, along the lines of the one already won by Zaha Hadid for an aquatics centre, which would have been built even if the London bid had been unsuccessful.

Thus far, the architectural tone and imagery has suggested folded landscapes integrating with built form in a way familiar to visitors to end-of-year shows by architecture schools, but rarely seen outside that context (Barcelona being an exception). The poetic nature of the landscape ideas and some of the more flamboyant illustrations of how the stadium might be have been generated by FOA, and one can only hope that they, along with the other members of the design team, are given a significant role in the coming years.

Part of the attraction of London as a host city is the undoubted regeneration legacy the Games will trigger. Stratford (not the Shakespearean town), in which the Games will be primarily located, is part of the Lower Lea Valley on the east side of the capital. It is a little known mixture of industrial dereliction and low-key industry, sorely in need of a shot in the arm. Needless to say, there are already siren voices complaining that the Games will force out 'locals', but in truth there aren't very many and there is an abundance of land for development and landscaping. The Games will represent a [pounds sterling]3 billion catalyst for an investment programme which could total [pounds sterling]20 billion, and take 20 years to deliver. The Lower Lea Valley is in turn part of the 'Thames Gateway' project, a gigantic regeneration proposal covering hundreds of square miles inside and outside London, on either side of the Thames and Thames estuary.

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Another attraction of the bid was the excellence of the public transport offer. Public transport? In London's East End? Indeed, and a cursory glance at an A-Z map shows just how well connected Stratford already is in terms of overground and underground rail; importantly, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link linking Brussels, Lille and Paris directly to London, will be stopping at Stratford before terminating in St Pancras Station in central London. This will allow continental European visitors to make a day-trip to the Games, while Londoners and others will be able to reach Stratford from the centre in under 15 minutes.

Another popular element in the successful bid is the decision to stage different events in different (and prominent) parts of the city: archery at the home of cricket, Lord's; beach volleyball at the back of Whitehall; and a couple of key football matches at Foster and Partners' Wembley stadium, now nearing completion, a reminder of the postwar Games in 1948. Who knows, we may end up seeing the parade of athletes taking place in the Mall, rather than round the track.

Two concerns have modified the Olympic celebrations since London's win was announced. The lesser of the two, though significant, is the capacity of the UK construction industry in general, and the London sector in particular, to take on board the significant workload involved, while simultaneously completing huge programmes of education, health and residential work. There is also the little matter of a huge new development at Stratford itself, including retail, commercial and housing, which again would have happened with or without the Olympics. Stock market prices of leading contractors have already begun to rise in expectation of some rich pickings, and it may be that certain other public projects will be re-phased to avoid the sector overheating wildly.

The other major concern is, of course, security. This is a critical element in any successful bid design, and the requirements of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have already been met. London is the last place where a fortress mentality is likely to prevail; we can only hope that the political situation is calmer in seven years' time, as a celebration of truly international dimensions takes place.