Construction work has begun on the Athletes Village for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The 51-hectare site in the Seinte-Saint-Denis district in north Paris will accommodate up to 17,000 athletes and team officials during the Games.

The Village will be built close to the Olympic Stadium and the Aquatics Centre – two venues in which an estimated 30 per cent of the total number of athletes will compete.

The project is led by Solideo, a public sector organisation tasked with financing, supervising and delivering the Olympic facilities.

The masterplan for the village was created by French architect Dominique Perrault.

Within the Village will be the Cite du Cinema film studio complex, which will be maintained as a focal point in the redevelopment. It will accommodate the main dining hall and will become the core around which the different infrastructures and services will be located.

The Village concept combines contemporary urban planning, innovative architecture, and landscape design, all within a framework of sustainability.

After the Games, the site will feature around 3,500 apartments and will be fully integrated into its surroundings with extensive leisure, commercial, community and educational facilities.

The Athletes' Village is one of two major projects to be built specifically for the Olympics – the other being the Aquatics Centre.

The Athletes Village is expected to take around three years to complete.

In the words of the developers:

Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games Organising Committee

Located some 7km north of the centre of Paris, overlapping the communes of Saint-Denis, Ile Saint-Denis and Saint-Ouen and less than five minutes away from the Stade de France, the village will be the epicentre of the Paris 2024 design.

Comprised within a radius of 500m, the compactness of the village makes it functional and ideal for athletes.

It includes three main areas: the Olympic Village Plazza, an international zone open onto the Seine river, a residential area around the Cité du Cinéma, and an operational area connected to the road networks. The village will be served by the future hub of the Greater Paris underground.

This exceptional 51-hectare site will help athletes perform. Aside from those training at their competition venues, 100 per cent of the athletes will train within 20 minutes from the Village, and 60 per cent of those will train within the Village itself. 85 per cent of athletes will be accommodated less than 30 minutes away from their competition venue.