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Olympic organisers choose Canary Wharf as 2012 HQ

The team organising the London Olympic Games in 2012 will be based in the financial hub of Canary Wharf, a couple of kilometres from the Olympic Park, the Games' organising committee said on Monday.

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) said it and the Olympic Delivery Authority, responsible for the Games' infrastructure, would move into three floors of the 33-storey One Churchill Place in Canary Wharf.

In the immediate run-up to the Games it is thought around 2,500 employees will be based in the building, which is also home to Barclays.

The move will be a short hop for the successful bid organisers, who orchestrated London's victory from nearby skyscraper One Canada Square.

The 86-acre Canary Wharf site, owned by Songbird Estates, was a thriving docks area until the late 1960s but was converted into a gleaming business district during the 1980s.

Reuters.co.uk