London's Olympic bid proposed that there would be four arenas in the Olympic Park, but the revised masterplan published in 2006 reduced this to three, with the
volleyball matches being moved to
Earls Court Exhibition Centre. The
fencing arena was also cancelled, and the fencing took place at
ExCeL. The Basketball Arena had 12,000 seats for Olympic basketball and the semi-finals and finals of Olympic handball, and 10,000 for
Paralympic wheelchair basketball and
wheelchair rugby. The arena was also used as a holding area for athletes during the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the games. Concept designs by
Wilkinson Eyre Architects & KSS Design Group were agreed in June 2008 and a planning application was submitted in November 2008. It was a temporary venue, and the largest built for any Olympic games. The possibility of subsequently deconstructing the arena and transporting it to
Rio de Janeiro for the
2016 Summer Olympics was discussed, though the plan was shelved due to doubts from some Brazilian officials about its feasibility. In early October 2008 it was speculated that
Wembley Arena could be used as a replacement venue for the preliminary rounds of the
2012 Olympic basketball tournament instead of the Basketball Arena, thus saving up to £90 million, but in March 2009 it was confirmed that a new arena would be built in Stratford as originally proposed. In late October 2009, preparatory work had begun on the site and
Paisley-based
Barr Construction would begin building the main arena in spring 2010. Sustainability was an important concern. The arena was made out of sturdy individual components that could be easily dismantled and sub-divided for reuse elsewhere, with over two-thirds of the materials and components to be recyclable. The test event for the arena was the
London International Basketball Invitational competition, which took place between 16 and 21 August 2011. For the test event, the venue had a capacity of 3,000. ==Construction==