The first impression of the experience is high security, we had 3 separate ID checks to get into the Village and for specific buildings. Nigel is the director responsible for the Village and many other aspects of the Games, his pass did not have the correct date so he was refused entry until the error had been corrected. I appreciate that a large amount of additional security is necessary to ensure the Games are safe but our Commissioners have expressed concern that  additional scrutiny may continue in wider society after the Games and infringe the civil liberties of the most watched nation on earth. There has to be a balance after the Games.

The Village is the first to be located within walking distance of the main competition venues and the excellent public transport links to central London will provide a great experience for athletes of the 208 nations who will descend on us in less than 100 days. The facilities are first class, each of the apartment blocks has a green courtyard and there is high quality green space to give the Village an open, refreshing feel. We noted, however, that one area of green space is allocated for a high rise development in legacy which will detract from the ambience of the development and restrict light for residents.

A great deal of thought has been given to legacy. The operations centre will become a school and the sports fields for athletes’ entertainment will be part of the school experience. The Polyclinic will remain as a medical facility for the new residents and the ground floor will be developed with retail facilities to create a new piece of city.

This is the first major development to comply with Code for Sustainable Homes Level 4. I wondered “what would a Code 4 development feel like?”  The answer was; very little different to any other modern apartment block. The accommodation is of high quality with high levels of insulation, there are plenty of doors opening on to the balconies to provide ventilation in summer, lighting is by LEDs not bulbs but unless you are an energy geek you probably would not know the difference, neither would you know that the heating is supplied by a district heating system connected to CCHP. The only noticeable difference was the heating control system which our energy expert thought looked a little complicated, which is worrying – the systems must be useable to be effective. The future school is a great building with abundant natural light, but the transparent roof was a little noisy when the English weather did its best to disrupt our visit.

The Village has demonstrated that it is possible to live in comfortable, modern accommodation and be more sustainable. We don’t have to go back to living in caves or build houses made of straw. For London 2012 to establish this milestone for sustainable living is a major achievement to be celebrated.

Shaun McCarthy

April 2012  

We think of legacy in terms of the environmental, social and economic legacy, primarily for East London but also for the UK as a whole, we also think about the legacy of learning and how this is applied in a wider context. The track record of past Games is patchy, the Olympics helped to put Barcelona on the map as a world city and helped to regenerate the east dock area, the legacy of Athens is almost non-existent and Sydney has done well after a slow start. Beijing is emerging with a legacy of sorts but time will tell.

The time has come to consider London 2012 legacy in detail and I am grateful to my colleague Emma Synnott for an excellent and wide-ranging review which was published this week. In many ways the signs are good. There is clear evidence that the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) take their responsibility seriously. As the baton passes from ODA and LOCOG, their job is to adopt the high standards already set and build on ever higher performance. After a difficult start the plans being developed are looking positive.

However, it is not just about OPLC or the emerging London Legacy Development Corporation – they do not own the Velodrome, the Olympic Village or the Stratford City complex; the Host Boroughs have a big role, as do organisations on the ground who have done some amazing things at street level and working with communities. We believe that the Lea Valley needs to be seen as a total ecological and socio-economic system in order to reap the undoubted benefits and to live up to the promise of a “blueprint for sustainable living” which was set by the last Government. A community of practice needs to be established to knit together the various initiatives in the area to produce a whole scheme that will be greater than the sum of its parts. This does not mean yet another bureaucratic body or a complex masterplan drawn up by people who have never lived in the area. This requires vision and leadership to galvanise the good work that has been done and to solicit the support of the necessary authorities. There is already an All Party Parliamentary Committee focused on the Olympic legacy and there is a “WaterCity” vision created by the community. We think the time has come for leaders to step up and grasp this unique opportunity.

Shaun McCarthy 

March 2012 

There are also wider issues related to supply chains and commercial partners. Human rights are not well recognised in some supply chains and the current or historic corporate responsibility practices of some companies could be called into question when considering the Olympic and Paralympic values.

To this end I was grateful to LOCOG for inviting me to their supplier conference this week: some 400 suppliers were represented and the theme was all about winning. The suppliers are already winners having competed for the work but there is a further challenge to deliver an inspirational and sustainable Games.

I was curious to know how much the sustainability message would be pushed in a project where time is clearly of the essence. I was not disappointed. LOCOG has set a challenge to suppliers to use the Games to improve their performance in corporate responsibility in ways that go beyond their contractual commitments. They were asked to consider three objectives: to report their sustainability performance transparently; to share their sustainability lessons from London 2012 using public case studies; and, to openly disclose the manufacturing locations in their supply chains. They were also challenged to pledge three diversity and inclusion actions: to achieve the Diversity Works for London Gold Standard; to participate in the “Two Ticks” scheme to guarantee interviews for suitably qualified disabled people; and, to advertise their supply chain opportunities on CompeteFor, an online brokerage system.

I was particularly pleased to see the challenge to disclose supply chains transparently but the challenge had the caveat “as appropriate and within the context of your business”. This is an obvious statement as they would hardly do it out of the context of their business but it makes the challenge sound weak… Human rights in some supply chains present a significant risk to many companies and public disclosure is a good way to address this issue. Audits have some value but are not the whole story. We have commended Adidas for being the first to disclose, I hope they will not be the last. We have also commended LOCOG on their independent complaints mechanism – but it has yet to be tested.

LOCOG’s procurement process goes some way to addressing these issues but it is a mechanistic process based on the use of questionnaires and due diligence based on risk. There is currently no way of aligning the track record of commercial partners with the Olympic and Paralympic values and there are lessons to be learned here for future Games. Deborah Meadon of “Dragons’ Den” fame presented the sustainability challenges at the conference, saying that she hoped in 20 years time London 2012 is seen to be the least sustainable Games because future host cities have raised the bar. I endorse that message, particularly with regard to this issue.

Good sustainable procurement is not just about putting things in contracts and supplier management processes. It is also about leading by example and inspiring your supply chain to higher levels of performance. LOCOG made a start this week. The challenge is to turn good intention into positive action and I look forward to seeing this in the run up to the Games and beyond.

Shaun McCarthy

January 2012 

We should not forget that LOCOG also promised a low carbon Olympic cauldron; the flame that is lit during the opening ceremony and stays alight throughout the Games. This is about the message and the carbon.

We won’t know the details until the opening ceremony but I am encouraging LOCOG to think about this in a very holistic way. Firstly; conservation should be considered as the first design challenge, so we would expect the flame to burn much less fuel than its predecessors. If it’s anything like Sydney, London’s cauldron could use as much gas during the Games as 225 UK households use in a year – that is a lot of fuel and potentially a lot of carbon emitted.  It would be nice to think that we could neatly offset the carbon emitted from such a potential gargantuan through capturing all the energy pounded into the pavements around the UK as the torch relay makes its way to light it. If only pizo-power were that advanced! If an alternative fuel can be found for the cauldron this will be great but the first objective must be to use less fuel.

We also need to consider the energy that goes into manufacturing the device. The monster in Beijing weighed in at 300 Tonnes, surely London can come up with something more elegant and not emulate the bloated excess that was a recurring theme in Beijing 2008.

Finally, have you ever thought about what happens to an Olympic cauldron after the Games? Presumably they become redundant museum pieces, a museum with a reinforced floor in the case of Beijing! Wouldn’t it be great if the cauldron could be used in some way after the Games, either in whole or in part?

There is more to a low carbon flame than meets the eye. I hope LOCOG can deliver the goods at the opening ceremony.

Shaun McCarthy

November 2011

On the other side there is expectation that London 2012 will solve wider problems for the environment and society, the Games can’t solve everything but by adopting the mantle “the most sustainable Games ever” there is a reasonable expectation that London 2012 will set an example and make a difference. These issues all come together when we think about merchandise. The pure environmentalist would say we should not have merchandise at all, selling stuff that will end up in the bin to people who don’t need it is not necessary. This is not a commercial reality as the contribution of merchandise sales is vital to fund the cost of staging the Games, which is wholly from private sector revenue.

Given that we must have merchandise; we have looked at what LOCOG is doing to make a difference to the merchandise sector, which has a reputation for being wasteful, cheap and detrimental to workers rights in many parts of the world. There are some great examples of the sustainable sourcing code changing the industry; Hornby has revised its global packaging strategy, the plastic umbrellas are at least not made from PVC and are recyclable, and many more. Our main criticism is that none of this is communicated to the buyer and that more could be done to sell products that are demonstrably sustainable. With respect to labour standards, LOCOG has made some progress on the issue of workers rights but the social NGOs will say more should be done. All suppliers are required to comply with the Ethical Trade Initiative base code and a ground breaking “whistle blowing” process has been put in place. We are concerned that the complaints mechanism should be communicated more widely, there is no point in having a whistle blowing programme if nobody knows about it. The holy grail of workers rights is full public disclosure of factory locations, adidas have achieved this but others have not. We expect LOCOG to push commercial partners harder on this issue but 100% disclosure is not realistic.

Wenlock and Mandeville are not going to save the world but LOCOG has made a difference. Event managers and merchandisers need to look at LOCOG’s achievements and improve on them. If this happens the world will be a more sustainable place in future.

Shaun McCarthy

October 2011

I admit to a special interest in the Eton Dorney venue for the Olympic and Parlaympic rowing and canoeing events. As a local resident I have reservations about the impact of the event on traffic in the area but as Chair of CSL I think it is a wonderful venue and if the sun shines as it did when I visited the test event it should prove to be a stunning backdrop to the event on which high hopes of British success are pinned.

In common with other test events, LOCOG has demonstrated that waste management to achieve zero to landfill will be a massive challenge. This is a high quality problem in a way, if it was easy they would not be setting new standards. Our Sustainable Games Preparation review will be published later this year and will throw more light on our view of LOCOG’s preparations generally, but I could not fault the commitment of all concerned on the day to deliver ground-breaking sustainability objectives during the Games.

This was a test event for competitors, not spectators. Eton Dorney is relatively unique in that it is a semi-rural site with no walkable access to public transport. This means that spectators will be transported by bus from railway stations at Windsor, Slough and Maidenhead and from park and ride sites nearby. During the Olympic Games, 30,000 spectators per day will be transported to Windsor race course where they will access the site via a temporary bridge over the river Thames. Some trees will need to be removed to achieve this but ecological plans to deal with this are in place. Windsor race course is accustomed to dealing with large crowds and the plans for transportation and crowd control are well advanced. During the Paralympic Games the number of spectators will drop to 10,000 but access via the race course is not possible due to another event. This means all spectators will be transported via a relatively narrow road leading the traditional main entrance to the venue. This may cause local congestion and air quality problems which need to be fully explored.

The Thames will be used for practice and there are plans to upgrade the towpath to accommodate this. We believe this upgrade should be permanent to support the legacy of the Thames as a public amenity.

On the site it was great to see competitors taking advantage of the splendid bikes supplied by BMW to explore the Thames and the many local paths with great access to the area’s biodiversity. Hopefully the Games will encourage more people to visit this attractive part of the world.

Shaun McCarthy

September 2011

You may recall that last year the Commission released a waste management review, which looked at London 2012’s commitment to the promise of the Games being ‘a catalyst for new waste management infrastructure in East London’.

A year on, I’m really looking forward to talking more extensively on the topic when I visit the midlands to present at the Recycling and Waste Management Exhibition (RWM). The three-day event is being held at Birmingham’s NEC and will play host to delegates from all over the world. The event also has a product and exhibition hall as well as an impressive line-up of speakers.

My session is scheduled on Thursday 15 September at 11.30am and is titled No Time To Waste – A review of London 2012’s Waste and Resource Management. If you’d like to register to attend RWM (it’s free), please click here.

The price of fish

Having recently moved into Stratford, I was delighted and surprised to find evidence of a resident badger in the garden.  Its fresh digging, D shaped tunnels and chubby paw prints mean I eagerly await the arrival of a wildlife camera so I can set eyes on the snuffling creature….and dispel my suspicion that it is a cruel joke played on the unsuspecting Aussie by my London friends. My mother has another theory entirely:  she’s convinced that ‘Badge’ is an environmental refugee from the Olympic Park.  I live 30 minutes walk away Mum!  I know those setts are big but I don’t think Boris has extended the superhighways from Bikes to Badgers just yet.

Badgers though, are topical for the Games. At least, they are at Hadleigh Farm where LOCOG recently held its Mountain Bike test event as part of the London Prepares series.  Here, LOCOG had carefully roped off a major Sett close to the field of play after attempts to lure the Badgers to human-dug ‘hotel accommodation’ in the nearby paddock failed to attract stayers (one suspects a poor review in the Badger Daily but who knows?) There are definitely more glamorous occupations than peering in waste bins and down badger holes in all weathers. But when it’s the London Prepares series everything has a touch of glamour, from checking out badgers to the new wastewater pump-out gear in gale force winds on a rocking jetty in Portland.

The experience has been huge: so much learning for everyone including our team as we grapple with understanding what we need to be concentrating on for each of the venues leading up to Games-time.  The London 2012 team have been doing a fantastic job working through risk matrices, ensuring there are appropriate measures in place on site to address these, and dealing swiftly with any incidents that have occurred.  The care and attention they have shown to addressing issues has been impressive.  There are some big challenges ahead and some things still need to be tested.  Making sure all venues are accessible and ticket-holders can get good views whether in a wheel chair or in a seat is a challenge but one which looks like it will be cracked.  Ensuring that people put their rubbish in the right bins is on the other hand a whole new ball game: so straightforward yet so easy to go pear-shaped.  What has been learnt about waste from this series will be invaluable in helping tweak plans to ensure diversion and recycling targets can be met at Games-time.

My one big complaint?  I lined up for lunch at the Park only to find I had around £1.20 left from a tenner after buying a bottle of water and good old blightie fish n chips.  I shudder to think how a family of four will cope with those prices after a day in the Park next year without a strategy to keep prices affordable.  The good news is LOCOG has already said it will provide food at affordable prices for Games-time as part of its Food Vision.  I can’t wait to see this in action as a fabulous way to help low income families have an Olympic experience of a lifetime.

Emma Synnott

August 2011

Horses and bikes

Having worked in the Greenwich area for nearly four years prior to starting with the Commission, I’m well aware of the value to Greenwich Park to the local people and wildlife of Greenwich and the surrounding area. So it was with great interest that I attended the London Prepares equestrian test event.

LOCOG must have put in a good order with someone as the day dawned with bright sunshine [note to self, as you are folically challenged, always take a hat to an outdoor event to prevent turning bright red]. The fine weather provided a great canvas for the park and the equestrians to demonstrate how good they are. Should there be heavy rain in the summer of 2012, some contingency plans might be needed to enable everyone to enjoy the park and event, whilst not leaving a heavy footprint so to speak.

The potential impacts on the ecology of the park have clearly been taken into account by LOCOG. This could be seen in the way key trees were fenced off to prevent people going into these areas, drivers of horse ambulances (that’s an ambulance for injured horses, not a horse-drawn ambulance) were given maps showing where they could and couldn’t go to protect habitat and root zones. Even the stables were designed to ensure that all waste and waste water was able to be pumped out and taken away for treatment. There has had to be work done to make the course suitable for horses and this will need to be restored to the original nutrient poor acid grassland habitat. Plans have been developed for this and we will continue to keep an eye on them.

It was also great to see the local schoolchildren enjoying the event – perhaps not the typical equestrian audience but I hope all those fortunate enough to have tickets for next year can share their enthusiasm.

More recently I went to Box Hill for the hill stage of the road cycling test event. I’m a fairly keen cyclist, although I decided the 100 mile round trip from my house was a little too far to cycle early on a Sunday morning. That said, I’m still a bit unclear about the idea of waiting for hours to see the cyclists go past a couple of times and then going home again. This waiting time was well used by the PA announcer to tell the assembled crowd about the ecological merits of the site they were in and not to leave any litter behind (which was well heeded by everyone there). Again it was good to see that ecological concerns (my main reason for being there) were taken into account by LOCOG, with the most sensitive habitats fenced off.

All in all, it’s been really interesting to see a number of test events in action. I’m getting used to the occasional funny looks when I photograph bins and their contents (getting waste to go in the right bins is still one to be sorted for next year), or trampled grasses, rather than any sporting action. It’s certainly brought home the breadth of different types of venues, habitats and issues involved in hosting the Games. With less than one year to go our attention remains focused on how London 2012 can host the truly sustainable Games that we all want to see.

Jonathan Turner

August 2011

I recently paid a visit to Australia in a privately funded trip connected with my non-CSL business. Despite this I could not resist the temptation to take a look round the Olympic Park during my free time to see how the legacy is going.

I was impressed. The Park is located in the moderately affluent suburb of Homebush, 30 minutes train ride from the city centre. It does not have the green space as a centrepiece that London will have but it is good to see economic development in the area, with good rail connections, a major bank relocating 3,500 staff there and new housing developments planned in harmony with the rich biodiverse wetlands close by. The stadium is magnificent, a true multi-sport arena. Huge hydraulic rams are able to move blocks of seating on both sides to get the crown closer to the action for soccer and both rugby codes. The seats can be retracted to accommodate cricket and Aussie Rules Football. The athletics track was removed after the Games and relocated elsewhere in the Park. Lots and lots to do and see, even for the most dedicated sports-mad Aussie. The aquatic centre was a hive of activity during my Saturday morning visit, there was a children’s swimming event going on in the competition pool and kids having great fun in the adjacent leisure pool, containing water slides, fountains and lots of stuff to keep the non-sporting children active and amused. The building does not have the feel of the iconic Zaha Hadid swoopy roof but the London aquatic centre does not contain a leisure pool for children. This is a heinous oversight and I fear the supposed iconic venue for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park may become an iconic white elephant if the right mix of uses cannot be guaranteed.

The former Olympic Village is now a new suburb called Newington, with shops, a school, doctors, community centre and everything you need for daily life. It is a low-rise, leafy development with a “university campus” feel to it. Very different to the high density urban development that will form much of London’s legacy.

Environmentally the site seems to be a success, the ambition to make the village self-sufficient in solar power was not fully achieved but there is evidence of solar PV everywhere. Water shortages are common in Australia and use of rainwater harvesting and blackwater recycling ensure there are no hosepipe bans in Newington. The site does not benefit from CCHP in the way London does but a new energy plan is in development.

Socially, the leafy suburban environment of Homebush appears half a world away from the edgy,highly urban environment of Stratford.  The challenge to help create a truly integrated community in East London is all the more urgent given the dreadful scenes of rioting on London’s streets in the summer of 2011.

All in all I think London will surpass Sydney’s “green Games” in terms of environmental sustainability but not by much. I must admit to being a little dismayed at the lack of progress in sustainable thinking in the 11 years since the 2000 Games. Sydney is raising the bar with new plans for a sustainable city within the Park. The partners responsible for legacy have a tough challenge to retain the sustainability gold medal. The Aussies hate being beaten by the Poms at sport, it seems the same competition exists for sustainability. Long may it continue!

Shaun McCarthy

August 2011

The early evening event, well organised by the ODA, was very different. 1,600 guests were invited to celebrate one year to go with the first dive into the pool by Tom Daley and a unique swimming race featuring medal winning athletes, but most of them not for swimming. All I can say about that is that as a swimmer, Tessa Sanderson throws a mean javelin. From a sustainability standpoint it was mixed. The audience was very inclusive, lots of local school kids and local residents who responded to advertising in the local media. All races, colours and abilities seemed to be there and very few white blokes in suits (like me). However I was disappointed to see naff plastic flags on every seat which served no useful purpose at all and just littered the venue after the event. I have no idea what they were made of, where they were made and where they will go when somebody has swept them off the floor. Our commissioner Neil Taylor took a load home for his kids so I suppose that is re-use of a sort. The food was healthy and fresh (and free), served on cardboard platters with wooden forks. However there was far too much and much was wasted. I was not impressed with what I saw of the waste management either, all waste in one bin with no evidence of segregation. All lessons to be learned for The Big One next year.

A final word for the Aquatic Centre. We have been very rude about this building and have been unstinting in our criticism of its relative lack of sustainability. I still think 3,000 tonnes is too much metal to put a roof over a swimming pool but the building is stunning inside. The atmosphere created by 17,000 spectators will be an inspiration. However, I still prefer the velodrome!

Shaun McCarthy

July 2011