Grand Designs for Sustainability at London Olympics

Grand Designs presenter, Kevin
McCloud (pictured left) and five other London 2012 Sustainability Ambassadors
paid a special visit to the Olympic Park recently to see the grand designs for
London 2012. The role of the Ambassadors is to help to bring to people’s
attention the importance of sustainability at the Games. Unveiled in February,
the sinuous velodrome (pictured right) was chosen to represent London’s claim
for the “greenest games ever,” because of its sustainability and
efficiency initiatives.

Photo One of the four permanent
venues in the London Olympic Park, the velodrome was one of the last to be
commissioned, and the first to be completed on time and on budget. Unveiled in
February, the sinuous velodrome was chosen to represent London’s claim for the
“greenest games ever,” because of its sustainability and efficiency
initiatives. Inspired by lightweight and streamlined racing bikes, the Hopkins
Architects-designed velodrome will provide a venue for the indoor track cycling
events at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

London 2012 sets the standard for
sustainability

02 Nov 2011

Grand Designs presenter, Kevin
McCloud and five other London 2012 Sustainability Ambassadors paid a special
visit to the Olympic Park recently to see the grand designs for London 2012.

McCloud was joined by campaigner
and author, Eugenie Harvey; author and environmentalist, Saci Lloyd;
entrepreneur and businesswoman, Deborah Meaden; environmentalist and writer,
Jonathon Porritt; and co-founder of the Eden Project, Tim Smitt.

The role of the Ambassadors is to
help to bring to people’s attention the importance of sustainability at the
Games. During the day on the Olympic Park, they visited the new Parklands
running through the heart of the Olympic Park and the lightest Olympic stadium
ever built, meeting members of the team working on the project.

Jonathan Porritt, who chairs the
Sustainability Ambassador’s Group said: ‘The Games provide an important
opportunity to feel proud of what we’ve achieved. London and the UK will be on
show to billions of people during the Games and this is a precious once in a
lifetime opportunity to visibly display our leadership in sustainability
issues.’

Deborah Meaden said: ‘I am
delighted to have been asked to be a London 2012 Sustainability
Ambassador.  It is amazing to see how
sustainability has been embedded at such scale into the building of the venues
and the delivery of the Games.  I am
genuinely excited about what we have achieved and can’t wait to share it with
the world in 2012.’

The London 2012 Organising
Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) is the first Games
Organising Committee to be certified to the British Standard 8901:
Specification for a Sustainability Management Systems for Events.

This follows a series of
assessments carried out this summer by independent certification body SGS
United Kingdom who audited all activities delivered by LOCOG including the test
event in Greenwich Park. The following audits will also cover the preparations
for delivery of the Games, management of the Villages, coordination of the
Olympic Torch Relay, opening and closing ceremonies and the delivery of medal
events.

BS 8901 was inspired by the
London 2012 bid and has been developed specifically for the events industry
with a purpose of helping event organisers, venues and suppliers to operate in
a more sustainable manner.

LOCOG Chief Executive, Paul
Deighton said: ‘We set out to achieve new standards of sustainability in the
staging of the Games.  Certification to
BS 8901 is an Olympic and Paralympic first and is a fantastic achievement that
shows how far sustainability is embedded into the heart of our organisation.’

‘We still have more work to do
but we are well on track to achieve some fantastic results and uncover more
opportunities that have not been realised before in an Olympic or Paralympic
context.’

There are eight London 2012
Sustainability Ambassadors: James Cracknell, Eugenie Harvey, Ellie Hopkins, Saci
Lloyd, Deborah Meaden, Kevin McCloud, Jonathon Porritt and Tim Smitt.

As it heads towards its £2bn
budget for staging the Olympic and Paralympic Games, LOCOG has seven domestic
Tier One Partners – adidas, BMW, BP, British Airways, BT, EDF and Lloyds TSB.
There are seven domestic Tier Two Supporters – Adecco, ArcelorMittal, Cadbury,
Cisco, Deloitte, Thomas Cook and UPS. There are now twenty-eight domestic Tier
Three Suppliers and Providers – Aggreko, Airwave, Atkins, Boston Consulting
Group, CBS Outdoor, Crystal CG, Eurostar, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP,
G4S, GSK, Gymnova, Heathrow Airport, Heineken UK, Holiday Inn, John Lewis,
McCann Worldgroup, Mondo, NATURE VALLEY, Next, Nielsen, Populous, Rapiscan
Systems, Rio Tinto, Technogym, Thames Water, Ticketmaster, Trebor and
Westfield.

Source:  www.london2012.com