London ( CNN ) -- It 's hard to believe that this area of east London was once a dilapidated and neglected quarter of the UK capital . With shiny new stadiums and visitor facilities nestling among the lush landscaped grounds , every detail of the 500-acre Olympic Park has taken into account environmental concerns , prompting 2012 organizers to bill it as the first sustainable Olympics . David Stubbs , head of sustainability for the London 2012 Games , was part of the original team that drafted London 's successful bid . Sustainability was a key reason why London was chosen , he says , and provides a golden opportunity to show what can be achieved . `` If you can put sustainability at the heart of a project which is the largest logistical exercise in peace time -- across 26 different sports , with thousands of people attending and millions watching -- then you can do it anywhere , '' Stubbs said . See more : CNN 's Aiming for Gold . Many of the park 's bridges have been constructed using gabion walls ( steel mesh filled with stones and rubble ) providing a visual reminder of the Games ' green goals . `` There 's a huge emphasis on reuse and recycling , '' says Stubbs . `` All the buildings that were knocked down , all that rubble was sort of crushed up and used as the fillings of these gabions for the new bridges . '' The River Lea and several canals which wend their way through the park used to be badly polluted , he says . Today , after an intensive program of clearing and widening , wildlife is being encouraged to return . Watch : London 's new `` Green Park '' `` Creating a shallower profile in the wetlands further up ( the river ) has allowed larger areas of wildlife habitat to be created . At the same time that 's providing flood mitigation benefits to thousands of properties in the local area , '' Stubbs says . In addition to over 300,000 wetland plants , organizers have planted more than 4,000 trees and 130,000 plants and bulbs . `` One of the key things about this site is how you 've got natural park lands as well as more formal gardens . Unlike previous games people are going to really feel they are in a park , '' Stubbs said . London 2012 organizers are also proud of the park 's sporting arenas built for the Games . Behind the velodrome 's timber-clad frame , cyclists will race for gold round a track made from sustainably-sourced Siberian pine , while Zaha Hadid 's striking wave-shaped roof on the Aquatics Center has been temporarily adorned with `` wings '' providing seating for 15,000 spectators . `` That 's great for the games , but after we 'll bring it down to 2,500 seats for legacy mode , as it turns into a facility for the local community , '' he said . Temporary seating and venues , like the 12,000-seat Basketball Arena , will accommodate nearly 300,000 spectators during the games -- a figure without precedent at any previous Olympics , according to organizers . All eyes will be on the Olympic Stadium come the opening ceremony on July 27 with the 80,000-seat arena being the sustainable centerpiece of the Games . Constructed using just a tenth of the steel required to build Beijing 's `` Bird 's Nest '' , the stadium weighs in at just 4,500 tons , becoming the lightest Olympic Stadium ever built . Parts of the tubular steel roof has been built using surplus gas pipelines , Stubbs says . He and his team have used recycled materials wherever possible , which is not only cheaper but also cuts carbon emissions and energy costs . The complexities of the addressing sustainability have been a constant challenge Stubbs says , but his efforts appear to have paid off . London 2012 `` can build the confidence to wider society that sustainability is not a theory but infinitely do-able , '' said executive director of the United Nations Environment Program , Achim Steiner during a visit in April this year . `` Thrilled '' at the results he and his team have managed to produce , Stubbs is hopeful the park will be attracting visitors long after the Olympics has left town . `` It 's not about two weeks ... It is what this site will be like 20 to 30 years down the road , '' Stubbs said .
London 2012 organizers have placed sustainability at the heart of their planning for the Summer Olympics . Head of sustainability for the Games , David Stubbs says there 's been `` a huge emphasis on reuse and recycling '' Sustainable buildings and hundreds of thousands of new plants have transformed a polluted area of east London .