Work on the US$ 1.37 billion "Doha Festival City" project in Qatar is due to start in the next few days, reported Arabian Business. The project is one of the first mega projects to get underway as a result of Qatar's successful bid to host the FIFA World Cup 2022 tournament. Ibrahim Mohamed Jaidah, managing director of Arab Engineering Bureau (AEB), the project architects on the Doha Festival City project, said it had seen a big surge in opportunities as a result of Qatar's successful bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The project is located 15 kilometers north of downtown Doha on Al Shamal Road, one of the main arterial routes to the city centre and connecting Doha with Bahrain. The 434 thousand square meter entertainment, retail, hospitality and commercial facility project is being developed by Dubai's "Al-Futtaim Group", which has also developed the Festival City construction brand in the UAE and Egypt. Due to be completed in 2014, some of the main retail tenants already announced include the Swedish furnishing giant "IKEA", Toys "R" Us, "Marks & Spencer" and "Inter sport".

On September 15 took place the opening ceremony of the new contemporary cycle track in Malatya-Sebastya region, Yerevan, reported information agency "Armenpress". The construction of the new track launched in June 2010 with the agreement signed between the Yerevan municipality and "Renco Armestate" company. For developing bicycle sport in the republic, the new stadium has been constructed and equipped with contemporary devices and security system. It also has medical and doping control rooms. New track is equipped with a 250 meters long high quality wood cycle way. Now, any international and professional tournament may be conducted in this perfect cycle stadium with the capacity of 3 200 audience.

With exactly a year to go until the start of London's third summer Games, the Olympic Park in working class Stratford, one of Britain's most ambitious and costly urban renewal projects, now boasts all its main structures that will stage next year's sporting drama, reported news agency reuters.com. The Aquatics Center, which officially opened its doors on July 27, joins the towering Olympic Stadium, the sleek-looking Velodrome, the multi-use handball arena and the enormous International Broadcast Center (IBC) which have changed the skyline of London's eastern approaches. Basketball's gleaming white 12,000-seat rectangular venue is also ready for use, although despite its imposing size it will be dismantled after the Games. More than 160,000 tons of soil, much of it contaminated, were dug out to build the Aquatics Center - an operation that uncovered several Iron Age skeletons as well an assortment of rusting relics from the area's former uses. Even a two-month delay in completing the US$ 1.67 billion Aquatics Center, it seems, has its advantages. The iconic Aquatics Center, which houses two 50 meters pools and a diving pool and can seat 17,500 spectators during the Games, came in over budget and also missed its completion date because of complications over its roof design and heating systems. The cosmetics are still to be applied, such as the greening of the park with thousands of trees and plants, temporary venues constructed, and the athletes Village to be fitted out, but London 2012 chief Sebastian Coe said the handover of the sixth main building project on the Park with a year still remaining was a cause for pride.

As reported by london2012.com, the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) has announced the completion of its fifth venue, the International Broadcast Centre (IBC), on the 2012 London Olympic Park. The new centre will form part of the Main Media Complex, a 24-hour media hub which also includes the Main Press Centre (MPC). The complex will cater for over 20,000 broadcasters, photographers and print journalists, bringing the Games to an estimated four billion people across the world. The complex will also have a catering village and a multi-storey car park connects the two main venues together via a structure which includes a conference room for up to 700 people. The broadcasting centre has been designed by Allies and Morrison to be as flexible as possible to accommodate a range of potential tenants and uses after the games. The steel frame of the IBC is 275 meters long, 104 meters wide, 21 meters tall and big enough to house five jumbo jets. After the Games, the IBC has been designed to accommodate a range of potential tenants with hopes that major technology companies will move in.

As reported by news agency Reuters, the building of the 12,000-seat basketball arena for the London 2012 Olympics has been completed. The temporary stadium took 15 months to build and is the fourth venue at the Olympic Park to be finished, with a test event to be held there in August. The 115 meters long and 35 meters high, the white-clad arena is one of the largest temporary venues ever used for an Olympic Games and will be dismantled afterwards to be reused elsewhere. Building began in October 2009, with work to erect the 1,000-tonne steel frame starting in March 2010. The venue, completed on budget (US$ 69 billion), will hold the Olympic Park's first test event when six top men's teams (Britain, Australia, China, Croatia, France and Serbia) play in an International Invitational tournament from August 16-21. Other Olympic Park venues already finished are the main stadium, the velodrome and the handball arena.