The agreement will look to give young people the unique opportunity to study the urban environment within the Olympic Park which is Europe’s largest regeneration site.

The MoU will allow the Field Studies Council to explore opportunities to establish an urban residential field studies centre on the Olympic Park site after the 2012 Games which would provide students with the chance to gain hands-on experience in areas including urban design, building successful places and managing the environment as the Legacy Company oversees the development of the Olympic Park over 25 years.

Margaret Ford, the chair of the OPLC told insidethegames: "Education is vital on our vision to secure a sustainable legacy for the Olympic park and it is fantastic to start building our momentum by signing our first MoU with the Field Studies Council.

"The great thing is that we have lots of different discussions going on with various companies so we are hoping to announce many more agreements like this for different organisations to be using the Park post 2012 over the next 12 months.

"Because of the stature of the Park, we have had a huge deal of interest in businesses wanting to relocate to here.

"It has been well published about various companies wanting to move into the Olympic Stadium for example, so we expect to announce many more partnerships like this one in the near future."

The OPLC was established in May 2009 as a public sector not-for profit company which is responsible for the long term planning, development, management and maintenance of the Olympic Park and its facilities after the 2012 Games and Tim Burt, chairman of the Field Studies Council, is delighted that his organisation is the first to sign an MoU with the company.

He said: "Our vision is to develop a world-leading residential field centre specialising in outdoor education in the built environment - using the evolving and vibrant mix of buildings, spaces and parks to inspire and educate forthcoming generations of young people and their families.

"The Field Study Council’s work in London and other cities has shown that there is a need for an urban-based education centre which supports outdoor fieldwork.

"This project will have a very long life; no such residential education centre with a strong urban and sustainable living focus exists in London, or anywhere in the world."

The Field Studies Council will now develop plans including funding options for a centre on the Olympic Park which could accommodate up to 150 beds.

The proposal would primarily target secondary schools, although it could also be used by primary schools and adult learners.

They would be able to discover, explore and be inspired by the environment through day and overnight courses as the Olympic Park evolves over the next 25 years.

Schoolchildren from the George Green School in Tower Hamlets, which is close to the Olympic Park, benefited from a similar scheme earlier in the year when pupils visited a residential field studies centre in Dorking, Surrey.

Jordan Barker, 13, from George Green School in Tower Hamlets, said: "Going on the field studies course gave me a real sense of how important our environment is.

"We tried out different activities and worked together as a group.

"I am already excited by watching the buildings go up on the Olympic site, so to have a field studies centre on our doorstep would be amazing."

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