Work Begins on Fortress Wanstead Flats

This morning I went for a stroll on Wanstead Flats as work began on the Metropolitan Police's 'Muster, Deployment and Briefing Centre (MDBC), the Olympic operations base that has been the subject of concerted local opposition over the last two years. Today is the first day of the police's three month period of occupation of the site between Centre Road and Lake House Road.

Here are a few photos - I will add more here over the next few weeks as Fortress Wanstead Flats begins to take shape.

UPDATE: Sunday 24 June

Back at the Flats again today, I was almost immediately asked by a police officer in a van parked by Centre Road why I am photographing the Olympics policing base - followed by whether I was against the base and knew anything about the likelihood of protests. In view of this evident panic about the possibility of protesters turning up, work is progressing more slowly than I expected, although this may be the fault of the weather. As predicted, the ground is taking a beating from the vehicles on it. I can only imagine what it'll be like after having coaches to transport officers on it for six weeks.