How's your Olympics planning going then? Got your MO sorted for your business in the affected weeks? I do hope people have thought about this, as it would just provide too much tabloid-irony if we lost productivity over the Games (particularly in UKR, muttered she with feeling!) I am conscious that I've been a little curmudgeonly about the Olympics in past months and years. It's only a function of bile really: they didn't seek me out for a key job just as soon as we won the bid (which I felt was only my just desserts!) and I've been sulking about it ever since. And I'm not uber-sporty (possibly the under-statement of the century!) so I'm not a natural for any of the non-regeneration or legacy elements (aka "sport", I am given to understand).
And like a lot of folk, every time I get stuck in a traffic jam on the
bus, I panic about London's ability to cope. We had a bit of an exchange
on Twitter about London's major stations the other day. And the look of
some of our key spaces and places (Oxford Street?) does alarm me. The
gist of the chat was that the new King's Cross is simply superb, St
Pancras is our greatest-ever triumph, Paddington (with the refurb now
about 10 years old) looks pretty spruce and Liverpool Street has worn
exceptionally well for a station which underwent it's major revamp about
25 years ago. All to be proud of. But WHAT will our Olympics visitors
make of wretched Victoria? I seriously shudder to think, and tweeted as
much. Stefan Webb retorted with the hilarious "don't worry Jac, visitors
to Victoria won't have recovered from the shock of Gatwick", which is
both hilarious and cynical in equal measure. And sort of begs the
question.
But I am working on banishing my worst Cassandra tendencies: I am pinning all my hopes on my friend Sandra Eyre (planning consultant to the stars), who is meeting and greeting at Heathrow; if the first thing a visitor new to this country meets is the generous-of-spirit and ever-smiley Sandra Eyre, then frankly they could be lulled into finding a landfill site attractive! Unleash the potential and power of all our Sandra Eyres at every port and hub I say! The goodwill of the British people is key. And I genuinely hope and trust that London Olympics 2012 is the greatest success ever and provides us with the much needed boost to the economy and to confidence and sentiment (which, of course, drives the economy).
My mates Holtby Turner held one of their very well informed Business Breakfasts on this very topic last week and some further facts (new to me at least) about the Olympics came to the fore. Ian Crockford of the Olympic Delivery Authority was the main speaker, but folks were pleased also to see Joanna Averley of LandAid, making a fist of her new role in no uncertain fashion, providing the support band, introducing Ian (and, incidentally, the excellent work of LandAid).
And it would seem there is real potential to export our experience on the Olympic Park as "the inspirational capability we can market to the world". Joanna was saying that in 2005, she'd taken the boat ride past the proposed Olympic site. The area was strange, intimidating and disconnected from the rest of London and she certainly "didn't like what I saw floating in the water!". It was literally the "back alley" of London, home to fridge mountains, travellers' sites, fly tipping, certain dubious businesses and multifarious landowners. Needless to say, the transformation is amazing. One spin-off is that LandAid are working closely with an organisation called "Free Flyers" to build stronger and sustainable community links using sport as a way to engage young disadvantaged people to create community, build confidence, and give the vulnerable an opportunity to get away from intimidation and gang culture.
But that is one of many spin-offs, of course. Ian Crockford gave a very comprehensive run-through of some of the activity that had to be put in place to deliver the park. Much of which is already well documented in the public domain, but the metrics are amazing. The real achievement is the delivery of a "flat-pack Olympics" (if you like). Such a "pop-up" approach had never been adopted before and has been widely praised in the worldwide community (even by the beastly and unelected IOC). And, in keeping with giving the LLDC a fighting chance, major consideration has been given to "the look" after removal, so that it will not resemble a demolition site, or leave gaping holes, but return to a natural state.
It is well known that the Olympic Park took 80 million man hours to build, a less well known success story is that there was no loss of life, due to the huge priority given to health and safely. Workforce engagement was key to this success. And some of the construction logistics are amazing, with a north and south delivery point on the park, deliveries every 15 seconds, and holding bays established on the M11 and A13 to make this a possibility. Concrete batching took place in the park and for the first time since 1960s the waterways were used for delivery too (this is something I had tried and failed to do at Paddington; so I truly salute this!).
The Olympics Park is a fantastic achievement for the UK; a capability that not only can be marketed to the world, but can be rented out too. I join with Holtby Turner in celebrating these successes. And I promise to stop sucking wasps (so Matt Black needn't come screaming down the e-mail).
But I am working on banishing my worst Cassandra tendencies: I am pinning all my hopes on my friend Sandra Eyre (planning consultant to the stars), who is meeting and greeting at Heathrow; if the first thing a visitor new to this country meets is the generous-of-spirit and ever-smiley Sandra Eyre, then frankly they could be lulled into finding a landfill site attractive! Unleash the potential and power of all our Sandra Eyres at every port and hub I say! The goodwill of the British people is key. And I genuinely hope and trust that London Olympics 2012 is the greatest success ever and provides us with the much needed boost to the economy and to confidence and sentiment (which, of course, drives the economy).
My mates Holtby Turner held one of their very well informed Business Breakfasts on this very topic last week and some further facts (new to me at least) about the Olympics came to the fore. Ian Crockford of the Olympic Delivery Authority was the main speaker, but folks were pleased also to see Joanna Averley of LandAid, making a fist of her new role in no uncertain fashion, providing the support band, introducing Ian (and, incidentally, the excellent work of LandAid).
And it would seem there is real potential to export our experience on the Olympic Park as "the inspirational capability we can market to the world". Joanna was saying that in 2005, she'd taken the boat ride past the proposed Olympic site. The area was strange, intimidating and disconnected from the rest of London and she certainly "didn't like what I saw floating in the water!". It was literally the "back alley" of London, home to fridge mountains, travellers' sites, fly tipping, certain dubious businesses and multifarious landowners. Needless to say, the transformation is amazing. One spin-off is that LandAid are working closely with an organisation called "Free Flyers" to build stronger and sustainable community links using sport as a way to engage young disadvantaged people to create community, build confidence, and give the vulnerable an opportunity to get away from intimidation and gang culture.
But that is one of many spin-offs, of course. Ian Crockford gave a very comprehensive run-through of some of the activity that had to be put in place to deliver the park. Much of which is already well documented in the public domain, but the metrics are amazing. The real achievement is the delivery of a "flat-pack Olympics" (if you like). Such a "pop-up" approach had never been adopted before and has been widely praised in the worldwide community (even by the beastly and unelected IOC). And, in keeping with giving the LLDC a fighting chance, major consideration has been given to "the look" after removal, so that it will not resemble a demolition site, or leave gaping holes, but return to a natural state.
It is well known that the Olympic Park took 80 million man hours to build, a less well known success story is that there was no loss of life, due to the huge priority given to health and safely. Workforce engagement was key to this success. And some of the construction logistics are amazing, with a north and south delivery point on the park, deliveries every 15 seconds, and holding bays established on the M11 and A13 to make this a possibility. Concrete batching took place in the park and for the first time since 1960s the waterways were used for delivery too (this is something I had tried and failed to do at Paddington; so I truly salute this!).
The Olympics Park is a fantastic achievement for the UK; a capability that not only can be marketed to the world, but can be rented out too. I join with Holtby Turner in celebrating these successes. And I promise to stop sucking wasps (so Matt Black needn't come screaming down the e-mail).
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