London 2012 blog

This week we published an updated version of our Health, Safety and Environment Standard. This is issued to all our designers and contractors and sets out how we work in partnership to ensure the health and safety of everyone involved in the project and make sure we protect the environment.

Health and safety has always been the top priority for us, which is why the Standard was originally published in the summer of 2006, long before the ODA even gained possession of the land on the Olympic Park. But it needs to be a live document, so it’s consulted on and checked every year to keep it up-to-date, not only with legislation and our other policies, but also to match our ambitions. Ambitions for a healthy and safe workforce with over 3,000 workers on site.

One of the Olympic Park site workers:

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Daeth un o’n Olympiaid gwychaf i’n swyddfa'r diwrnod o’r blaen...

Anaml iawn mae rhywun yn gallu dweud rhywbeth fel yna, ynte? Fel rhan o ymdrechion Llundain 2012 i sicrhau fod pob rhan o’r DU yn cael budd o'r gemau, daeth Seb Coe i Gaerdydd fel Cadeirydd y Pwyllgor Trefnu gyda John Armitt o Awdurdod Gweithredu’r Gemau Olympaidd a Charles Allen o'r Grŵp Cenhedloedd a Rhanbarthau.

Yn ein cyfarfod siaradom am nifer o faterion - sut all Cymru ddathlu’r momentau trosglwyddo yn ystod seremoni gau'r gemau yn Beijing y mis nesaf; y diweddaraf ar y lleoliad beicio mynydd ar gyfer 2012; a’r Marc Ysbrydoli Cymreig newydd fydd yn cael ei ddefnyddio gan sefydliadau cymunedol ar hyd Cymru tros y pedair blynedd nesaf.

Read more of “One of our greatest Olympians came to my office the other day”

Last night I was one of 23,000 lucky people who saw Kylie Minogue on her world tour for her latest album. There were groups of girls in pink cowboy hats; ten year olds dragging their parents off the Jubilee Line in a rush to get there so as not to miss anything; as well as groups of blokes looking for a glimpse of those famous legs (!) – but mostly it was just people who were there for a good night out and a bit of a dance.

I had never been to the venue before, either as it is now or when it was the Millennium Dome. Obviously with my 2012 hat on, I was looking to see how it stood up to coping with an influx of people. Getting off the train and walking through the station was hassle-free and queue-free, there was plenty of room inside the venue to find your seats due to the well thought out layout inside. Walking up to my seat – which was three rows from the back – I was flabbergasted at the size of the venue.

North Greenwich Arena 1... from the back:

Read more of “North Greenwich Arena is the perfect 2012 venue”

Getting Stratford Regional Station – used by 40,000 people each morning – ready to be the gateway for the 2012 Games is a big job. What makes it more challenging is that the station has to remain ‘business as usual’ while work takes place.

Blue hoardings are now up around the station. Behind these hoardings, the Olympic Delivery Authority is making improvements to the station to boost its capacity and accessibility. This includes new lifts and stairs, an additional Central Line platform, a new entrance and restoring an old subway.

These enhancements, which are being delivered by Network Rail and London Underground, are taking place just metres from where passengers wait for their trains.

Take a look at the work going on behind the hoardings.

Getting started:



Steel pilings are being installed into the ground, as seen here on platforms 3 and 5. They provide support when the earth is removed to create the platforms' new stairs and lifts.

Read more of “Behind the scenes at Stratford Regional Station”

Spitalfields Festival means different things to different people – to some it's three weeks of familiar and new music in June, to others it's a winter alternative to mainstream seasonal offerings and to others it's their first chance to play, compose or hear music.

Starting 32 years ago when taxis would not go as far as Brick Lane, the festival has developed from a single event to a year-round music programme throughout Tower Hamlets with two major focal points in our June and December festivals as celebrations of music and the area. It has built its identity on high quality music, a commitment to sustained involvement within the local community and a belief that as an area Spitalfields and its people have a special creative quality.



Six months in from joining the festival, it's an incredibly fertile time to be involved. In these times, the need for the arts to offer chances to look through a different lens outside of everyday perspectives, to connect people as individuals and as communities and to celebrate life in all of its complexity remains vital. And there's a spirit of action and collaboration within the five host boroughs through initiatives such as Create08, a celebration of art, culture, festivals and performance in the five Host Boroughs, through the City's arts groups and through businesses that are active in the area.

Read more of “Bring on the arts”

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the Opening Ceremony of the London 1948 Olympic Games.

Read more of “The London Olympic Games Opening Ceremony...60 years ago in Wembley”

I'm part of an on-site policing team of five officers and we're lucky to have a unique job in the Metropolitan Police - providing policing support to the huge construction site of the Olympic Park, Olympic Village and surrounding developments. Everything about it is new territory for us - from the equipment we need, to the training, specialist skills and construction industry knowledge.

Our days are always different - it's fascinating to watch the site changing from one day to the next and the speed of delivery that's happening before our eyes.

I'm usually called in circumstances that you wouldn't find in every day policing. Just recently we were called to the Aquatics Centre site because the contractors found rusty firearms in a bag while widening and improving the Waterworks River.

Read more of “An unusual find on the Olympic Park...”

Last week I took the opportunity to visit some of Network Rail’s key projects for the London 2012 Games. This involved a tour of our major work taking place at Stratford Regional Station, the Stratford City development and the Olympic Park itself.

Our work is central to the successful delivery of the Park and the London 2012 Games overall. We need to deliver our work on time, within the resources that are available to us and without jeopardising the other projects that we are committed to. This can only be done through collaboration and partnership working and from what I have seen so far, this is working extremely well.

ODA Director of Transport, Hugh Sumner and I during the visit:

Read more of “Getting spectators to the Games on time”

Today, Sunday 27th at 9am saw the Village officially opened by BOCOG senior Vice-Presidents and the Mayor of the Village in front of hundreds of staff and volunteers, and more importantly the majority of the Chinese Olympic team. The whole event was split into two halves, with the Village Opening followed by the official Team Welcome Ceremony for the Chinese team. This ceremony is part of the traditional protocol of the Village and signifies (once the national flag is raised and the anthem played) that the host National Olympic Committee has officially taken up residence in the Village. All other Team Weclome Ceremonies need to be completed by the Games Opening Ceremony on the 8th of the 8th 2008.


Since the early hours of the morning, athletes have been arriving from all parts of the globe, Senegal, Cuba, Germany, Thailand - not whole teams at this stage, but sports squads from their various training camps. This trickle will quickly turn into a flood and the vast empty spaces of the Village will soon fill with the multi-colours of the track-suits of all  204 National Olympic Committees.

Read more of “Beijing Olympic Village 2008 is open for business!”

With only four years to go until the London 2012 Opening Ceremony, these latest photos of the Olympic Park show progress ahead of schedule.

This photo of the Olympic Stadium site shows the clear outline of where the Stadium will be and the distinctive lower bowl taking shape. Construction started in May, three months early:

Read more of “Latest photos: aerial images of Olympic Park”

The first 'Meeting of Minds' took place on 20 June. Eight businesses drawn from diverse sectors came to London 2012 headquarters to meet up with one of our tier one contractors. It was a very informal occasion designed to offer small businesses an opportunity to come and talk with London 2012 and a main contractor to better understand what it takes to do business with us. We were joined on this occasion by Jackie Connolly from the London Borough of Newham and Hemant Mistry from the London Development Agency (LDA) programme 'Diversity Works for London'.

Each business took five minutes to explain who they were and what their aspirations for participating in the London 2012 supply chain were. These were many and varied, from a wish to become involved in discussions over which tiles to use in the Aquatics Centre to how to sell ice cream to construction workers.

Read more of “Helping small businesses get work through London 2012”

When the Olympic Flag is handed over to London in August amidst great media excitement the pressure is also on in a small town over looking the Cardigan Bay. For here stands Harlech Castle - the most formidable fortress in Wales whose battlements spring out of a near-vertical cliff-face. Like an all seeing sentinel, it gazes out across the land and sea, keeping a watchful eye over Snowdonia. It stands on the site of the most important mythic saga of the Welsh culture - The Mabinogion. The tales of magic and heroes and giants and betrayal are told to every child across the land and continue to be told and retold throughout their schooling.

The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the commitment to a four year UK-wide cultural programme -  the Cultural Olympiad - has been an incentive to re-examine The Mabinogion in a new and challenging way and will involve young people, local people and artists from across North Wales. Led by Theatr Harlech - who are committed to ensuring that everyone within sight of the castle will sing or dance, or paint or build – they will be presenting a 'happening' that will have a lasting impact on how The Mabinogion is perceived as well as introducing thousands of visitors to this dynamic story.

Read more of “The imagination of Mabinogion”

I work on the north of the Olympic Park and our team runs two soil washing machines. The machines are helping to clean up contaminated soil (mostly from the previous industrial use of the area) so that it can reused in the creation of the Park.

Across the site, soil has been tested for a range of contamination, which consists mostly of hydrocarbons such as petrol and oil. Samples of contaminated soil are tested in an on-site lab to measure the levels of contamination and to establish the appropriate treatment. The soil is then sent to our 'Soil Treatment Centre (STC)'.

Soil washing on the Olympic Park:

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On Sunday, 27 July, we mark four years to go to the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.

And where better to mark the moment than with the workers currently transforming the Park site?

Read more of “Four years to go – and counting”

A video created as part of the 'Welcoming the World' project with schools in the five Host Boroughs. The pupils of George Mitchell Community School in Leyton produced this video.

Read more of “Video: A window into our world”

From boxing to Bollywood - see what went on when the Get Set London roadshow visited the Rise Festival in Finsbury Park.

Read more of “Video: Get Set London roadshow, Rise Festival”

Well, what to say about the last four and a half months? Firstly, the construction is ramping up rapidly (believe me I can attest to this as I have been stretched over this period). The Park is constantly changing - it is almost as if it is an autonomous machine changing day by day. If you haven’t been round for a week something will have drastically changed.

The tier one contractor I work for has been awarded a five-star award by the British Safety Council, which was a huge achievement for us. My company has also managed to clock up 1.55 million man hours on the Olympic Park without a Lost Time Accident, which is also a major achievement for any construction firm given the speed and intensity of work we are currently undertaking.

Read more of “Construction on the Park is ramping up rapidly”

It's 8am in the morning, you've been in a car for 3 1/2 hours, you've got a broken projector and a hall that is about to be filled with 180 primary school kids (who the headteacher has told you will either be hyperactive or exhausted because it's the penultimate day of term) waiting for you to deliver an assembly. Your idea of fun or your worst nightmare? 

Last Thursday, members of the LOCOG Education team and Communications team travelled to St. Peters Church of England Primary School in Caverswall, Staffordshire. Visits to schools are always very rewarding and entertaining but this one was particularly special as we were there to congratulate the school and especially one of its pupils, 10 year old Reece Berrisford, for winning a trip to the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games courtesy of Visa, as part of our Paralympic Handover education programme.

After meeting Reece for the first time, we set him his first task - meeting the press. Reece handled the photo shoot and questions from photo journalists like a true pro, telling the press all about why he is excited about the Paralympic Games and all about his new nickname - 'Beijing Boy'!

Read more of “A very rewarding trip to school”

The three weeks at the start of July on the archaeology 'discover' programme were a lot of fun, getting to meet a whole load of students, community members and teachers from across the five Host Boroughs (Greenwich, Hackney, Newham, Waltham Forest, Tower Hamlets).

People attending the sessions at Hackney's East Marsh watched a ‘blanket dig’, which used blankets to represent the different layers of the ground, with each being a different period: starting with the modern day and a London 2012 badge, to artefacts from the Second World War and Victorian times, through to medieval, Roman and pre-historic finds, such as flint. The 'blanket dig' was followed up by some sketching, then an opportunity to get one’s hands dirty with washing archaeological finds from the Museum of London’s archives, by scrubbing and using toothbrushes.

Pupils wash some archaeological finds:

Read more of “Running archaeology sessions at East Marsh”

At the end of June the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) took part in a jointly organised event with British Waterways to celebrate the London Festival of Architecture (LFA), which took place from 20 June to 20 July 2008. This year's festival focus for east London was Canary Wharf, Stratford and Greenwich Peninsular.

I was asked to take this forward and find a suitable event which would achieve a lasting association with the festival. The result was an event which involved a winning combination of boats, water, London 2012, a history of canals and rivers and, fortunately, sunshine last month.

Over the course of the weekend, trips on the 'Jenny Wren' canal boat took passengers from Limehouse Lock up the Limehouse Cut to the River Lea Navigation and stopped at Old Ford Lock to allow people to walk onto the Greenway and see the Olympic Stadium construction site. ODA volunteers joined forces with Richard Rutter, Mark Bensted and Jeremy Batch from British Waterways to take passengers on a magical tour of the London 2012 Games, the history of the Limehouse cut and River Lea navigation.

The Jenny Wren (image courtesy of British Waterways):

Read more of “London Festival of Architecture: London 2012 boat tours”

On Saturday I went along to the Get Set London Roadshow at Lewisham People's Day. I took my family along to the day at Mountsfield Park and we all got stuck into the activities. It was great to see so many families and children visiting the roadshow and finding out more about what 2012 will bring to London.

Read more of “Family fun at Lewisham People's Day”

I brought a team of five of my guys from my gym in Wandsworth along to the Get Set London Roadshow at the Islam Expo last Friday, 11th July.

We were invited to showcase a range of our boxing skills as well as teach our techniques to the visitors at the show. There were lots of schools visiting on the day so we were sure to show off our best tricks to the many aspiring boxers that visited.

Read more of “Boxing skills on show at Islam Expo”

Our latest aerial images released yesterday show some big changes on two of the venues, the Olympic Stadium and the Aquatics Centre.

Olympic Stadium site June 2008

Just under a year on from the start of demolition this view of the Stadium site shows a completely different scene. Construction has been underway since May and three large tower cranes now dominate the skyline:



Olympic Stadium site April 2007

This view shows the Stadium island site three months before the land was handed over to the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) for the start of demolition:

Read more of “New aerials show the past and present of the Park”

Video looking at the ODA's milestones achievements from 2007 to 2008.

Today I visited the Olympic Park site for the start of work on the new London 2012 Aquatics Centre. I’m part of the Crystal Palace Fast Track Team preparing for the London 2012 Games, so I was really excited to see the beginnings of where I hope to be competing in four years time.

With Seb Coe on the Aquatics Centre site:

Read more of “Excited about diving facilities coming to London”

I am the Director of a door manufacturing company in Port Talbot, Wales and last week ODA Chairman, John Armitt, LOCOG Chair, Seb Coe, and Chairman of the Nations and Regions Group, Charles Allen, came to visit us for a tour around our factory.

ODA Chairman, John Armitt (left), my colleagues and I (centre):



We manufacture, install and maintain all types of doors, barriers and gates, and specialise in anti-ram raid, anti-terrorist, blast, high security, ballistic, fire and acoustic doors.

Read more of “Winning a contract with London 2012”

I had to go to school at 8.00am today!!! Not for lessons though, today was special, we had some very important people coming from the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and Visa, who sponsor the Games, to talk to me, my friends and teachers about the Paralympic games being held in Beijing China and to plan the Paralympic handover celebrations for 2012.

Planning for handover celebrations with my classmates:



I won a competition to be the UK young news reporter and will be telling you all about the brilliant things I see at the Paralympic Games, the people I meet and the things I do during my stay in Beijing China.

Read more of “Winning the competition to be a reporter in Beijing!”

I represented LOCOG at one of the ODA’s Olympic Park tours for MPs this morning. Getting the MPs all together at Stratford station was, well, a little tricky, but they were soon on the bus and in the Park, to see the building work first hand and at close range. 

But it’s only when you step back and view the whole Park (such as from the ODA’s 6th floor viewing flat, just outside the Park boundary) that you get a better feel for the size of the site, which is bigger than Hyde Park. From the balcony the MPs were understandably - and predictably – quite taken by the sheer scale of the project. All the areas we saw were teeming with builders and diggers all beavering away on the different venue sites. 

Read more of “MPs and The Lean Mean Green Machine”

Last Sunday was a great day down at the Rise festival in Finsbury Park - the sun was shining and we treated festival goers to a colourful Bollywood dance show. Ten of our group showcased a number of routines comprising traditional Bollywood dance moves as well eastern influenced techniques to our favourite tracks.

Read more of “Bollywood dancers shake it at the RISE Festival”

As part of the London Festival of Architecture we decided to take a canal boat tour, an opportunity to see one of London’s most interesting areas on water and to check on progress at the Olympic Park site. My interest in this trip was both professional and personal. I once lived close to Limehouse Basin (in a ridiculously expensive one-bedroom riverside apartment that I shared with two other impoverished students), I like boat trips (any excuse to be travelling on water) and I work in environmental planning, so the management and delivery of a project on the scale of the London 2012 Games fascinates me.

We assembled at Limehouse Basin on a sunny Saturday morning and were briefed by a man from British Waterways before climbing aboard. We chugged out of the basin at a snail’s pace, weighed down somewhat by the 60 or so passengers. I don’t think the boat had ever carried that many folk before.

Read more of “Canal boat tour and Olympic site visit”

I work pretty hard. I guess I would say that wouldn’t I? But given that our two Handover Ceremonies are only weeks away, we launch our main Education programme to all the UK’s schools in mid September, and we kick off the Cultural Olympiad shortly afterwards, there might be something wrong if I was working nine to five and taking a siesta.

But when life is frantic and there’s the odd stressful moment here and there, thank goodness for days like today – a perfect antidote. Firstly a rare privilege in one of the UK’s pre-eminent galleries, and then, tonight, one of the most remarkable pieces of drama I’ve ever seen – and all from leading organisations we’re working with on plans for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

The National Portrait Gallery is brewing some terrific ideas to capture the experience of those preparing for London 2012 over the next few years. Today, however, Sandy Nairne, the NPG’s director invited me to tour the gallery, pick my favourite portrait and then write about it for his 'Face to Face' feature. It was impeccable torture. Like touring a sweet shop full of hand made delicacies but being rationed to just one mouth watering praline.

Read more of “Photography and theatre - the perfect antidote to a heavy workload”

No, the trains are no longer stopping at the Park. That’s because new railway sidings at Orient Way were delivered ahead of schedule this week and have freed up a large area within the Olympic Park known as Thornton’s Field.

Thornton’s Field

The Thornton’s Field railway sidings had been in operation for 80 years and were used to 'park' trains leaving Liverpool Street after the morning rush hour, while they weren't needed during off-peak times:



Park and ride

While the new sidings were being constructed, the rest of the Olympic Park was undergoing rapid change. In this picture you can see the trains, at rest after the morning rush hour, with the Olympic Stadium site in the background:



Orient Way

The new railway sidings that have replaced Thornton’s Field have been built at Orient Way, adjacent to the Lea Valley Line to the north of the Park:



Sustainable Games

In building the new 12-track railway sidings at Orient Way, over 3,250 yards of track was lifted and reused. This photograph was taken six months ago when the track laying for the new sidings had just started:



High voltage

During April the new overhead lines were being installed as the project kept ahead of schedule and budget:



Delivered

This week an event was held to officially mark the opening of the Orient Way sidings, which have been operational since June. Standing in front of the trains is Rail Minister Tom Harris and ODA Chairman John Armitt:

Last week I ventured to East Marsh with Celia, Head of Legal, to be involved in the ODA’s archaeology programme ‘discover’. I have been to East Marsh a number of times this year as we created homes for moths, worms, snails and beetles to live as part of the Olympic Park construction programme. The ecology has certainly come to life since my last visit.

Celia and I looking for creatures within a log wall at East Marsh:

Read more of “Discovering archaeology at East Marsh”

Lots of team days/events/things come and go and you find yourself thinking, here we go again. Our team building event at the weekend has quite happily changed my mind. We had temps to cover the reception, we had tickets and lots of energy and we were ready to go to St Pancras by 12 noon!

A pleasant journey up to be had gazing at some beautiful english countryside relaxed us nicely. We all got together in the evening for our team dinner to set out our plans for the next day and have a team ice breaker with some fun 'truth' questions put to us anonymously by others. This was a great way to see how team mates viewed each other.
Next day in the lobby and we were getting excited….time to go to Holme Pierrepoint in Nottingham which is home to the National Rafting Centre, a simple 15 minute taxi ride from the centre of town. Once we arrived, it was quite a quick process, get our wetsuits, get a quick briefing and off we go down the rapids! You go down the rapids 4 times but what we did not count on was having to get out at the bottom, carry our boat quite a distance back up the bank and then jumping in again and paddling all the way back to the start!

Read more of “Team of the Year 2008 - White water rafting”

Wow!

Working with these vibrant young people in South East and East London is amazing. Even as a professional filmmaker with years of experience in moving image education, I have been continuously inspired by the energy, commitment & perspectives of these guys.


The films created through the Welcoming the World project may appear short, but they represent hours of creative thought, planning, design, actual filming and editing to get over their potent messages

Read more of “School film project inspires the professionals”

July 4th for me was a wonderfully gratifying culmination of six months of working with students from schools around the 5 London Host boroughs for the 2012 Games. We were celebrating and sharing some outstanding and stunning short films, photographs and music tracks created by the students.

My involvement in Welcoming the World/Our World project was as a filmmaker on two fronts. Firstly, I was a Consultant Director on the OUR WORLD schools project enabling the students to make short films and to tell their own stories. Secondly Robyn, the Project Manager, also asked me to make my own film which resulted in a short documentary titled, Diversity in Motion.

Read more of “Celebrating creativity”

Picture the scene...

450 athletes (all female), 500 spectators (mainly female), 150 staff, over 15 events, 40 sport competitions plus a cheerleading competition, banner competition and staff 'Olympic' parade.

It's Plumstead (All Girls) School Sports Day - think High School Musical meets YMCA video meets 'We are the Champions' and you get the picture!

Lesson 1 - You can never think of everything in Security!

We think we've got it covered, but no-one thought about the fact a sports stadium with a 1000 teenage girls might attract the attention of the local boys school on their lunch break!

Read more of “School Sports Day Learning Manual - 10 lessons from the front line”

Here are two of the latest aerial photos taken of the Olympic Park showing where the International Broadcast Centre/Main Press Centre (IBC/MPC) will be:



Covering an area of 1.3 million square feet, the IBC/MPC will be a 24-hour media hub for around 20,000 broadcasters, photographers and journalists during the London 2012 Games – bringing coverage to an estimated four billion people worldwide.

After the Games, it will be used for office and business space, generating over 8,000 new jobs in Hackney:

A video from the unveiling of Orient Way, a railway siding facility in the Olympic Park. It will be used to park the extra trains used during morning and afternoon peak hours when they are not needed.

Diversity is one of many things that make London such a great world city. It’s also no surprise that it is therefore also one of the reasons that the London 2012 bid for the Games won way back in Singapore in 2005.

It counts in so many ways – every country that will send teams to London will have people already here that can speak their language and often have a satellite culture, which will help make athletes and visitors feel welcome. One strand of London’s diversity that is globally renowned is the strength and size of its gay community, so the London Organising Committee teamed up with the London Development Agency to take over a prime corner of Trafalgar Square for the annual Gay Pride event.

Read more of “London 2012 goes pink for the day”

Tuesday night saw the final Evening Standard London Influential’s debate for 2008, at the RCA’s Great Room, which features James Barry's celebrated paintings 'The Progress of Human Knowledge and Culture' on the upper walls. The venue was filled to capacity with 200 Londoners; the panel was Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP, Will Self columnist and author, Kate Hoey MP and GLA Commissioner for Sport, Andrew Gilligan columnist and Seb Coe.

Read more of “The debate hots up”

Recently I was asked to come along to one of the 2012 Get Set London Roadshows to share my experiences as a former Olympian at the Respect Festival in Brent.

When I arrived at Roundwood Park, it was a real treat to see so many families and children visiting the roadshow and finding out more about what 2012 will bring to London.

Read more of “The Respect Festival - taking the Roadshow to Brent”

On Monday, ODA Chairman John Armitt and Rail Minister, Tom Harris MP opened a new 12-track railway siding at Orient Way, five weeks early and on budget. Railway sidings are used to 'park' the extra trains used during morning and afternoon peak hour that are not needed at other times of the day.

Orient Way and the new 12-track railway siding:

Read more of “Latest photos: new railway siding at Orient Way”

Wow well, this is my first blog for LOCOG (and first blog ever I think). First, a little bit about me. I have just finished my second year at the University of Hull doing British Politics and Legislation Studies and managed to gain an internship over summer with LOCOG’s Government Relations team.

I've been here now for just over a month and am really enjoying it, a bit scary at first moving to the mother of all British cities and working/living on my own, but I have just about settled in.

Part of my job here is to head up a number of small projects - one of which was the West Midlands Drop-in last night; where we invite MPs to literally drop-in and voice any questions or queries they might have about London 2012 Games. This is also a great chance for them to meet their Regional Coordinator team and helps us to reassure MPs that the Games are not just going to benefit London but the country as a whole, with business opportunities through CompleteFor and Pre-Games Training Camps being set up all over the UK.

This was the second Drop-in  I have done. The first was the East Midlands Drop-in, which went very well with a number of MPs turning up and having their photo taken with Olympian Jonathan Edwards.

Read more of “Dropping in on the West-Midlands”

Pride '08 provided the latest setting for the LOCOG smiling staffers tour of London community events, with six of us working at the rally in Trafalgar Square on Saturday.

Our friends from the LDA brought their roadshow, asking what Londoners wanted to see in the Olympic Park after the Games, and we worked alongside them to make sure that any questions people had about the Games themselves could be answered – from Games venues in the City of Westminster to plans for development at Eton Dorney, the Rowing venue.


As the afternoon wore on and we burnt in the beating sun along with the crowd, the party-goers started to enjoy the entertainment on stage and became much more attracted by the stickers we were giving out as the photo shows:

Read more of “We get proud at Pride”

Last week our new Head of Diversity and Inclusion Stephen Frost asked those of us who were in Beijing or going to Beijing to consider one of six elements – disability, belief, age, gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation in the context of China and the Games. For me there was no choice but to make it a challenge, so I resisted my natural choice – age! - and went for disability. Now I don’t profess to be an expert in these areas and it may be that if one of our disabled colleagues writes a future blog that is more insightful but anyhow, here is my small contribution.
Last Sunday I spent the morning at the Summer Palace north of Beijing. Stephen’s plea was fresh in my memory so I approached the visit thinking about accessibility. The Palace is located in an area of hills, palaces and shrines all set around a large lake. It is one of the most visited tourist sites in Beijing, so an early start was essential.

The entrance looked formidable: As with most ancient Chinese structures is a 30 centimetre high step in between the door uprights that makes access difficult. But on enquiry they showed me a side entrance for disabled visitors with ambulant restrictions.

Read more of “Summer Palace”

A glittering event in the British Museum’s Great Court one day, and twenty four hours later London 2012 is the magnet for a run-down warehouse in a slightly shabby industrial park in Woolwich. Six or seven miles down the road in one great city, or worlds apart in the cultural firmament?

Thursday morning saw the welcome announcement that BP are joining us as a major commercial partner. The most elegant and articulate of launch events took its place a few yards from the Elgin Marbles and from the gallery where until recently the Terracotta Warriors Exhibition was such a big hit. The British Museum was an ideal choice. Not only is BP a long term supporter, but its inspirational Director Neil McGregor (and thanks from us all, Neil, for not being lured off to New York’s Met) is one of the powerhouse figures behind the 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

Incidentally, for the sad few who still think of the BM as a moribund home of dusty glass cases and ignored artefacts, it was announced this week that the Museum has topped the charts for the UK’s most visited tourist attraction. Not only hugely popular, but the museum continues to challenge, to interpret and to uses its unique collections to tell world stories – and much more of that to come when the Cultural Olympiad starts in the autumn.

Read more of “A week of welcomes”

The Concours Hippique International Officiel (CHIO) in Aachen is one of the leading international horse shows. They held the World Equestrian Games at this showground in 2006 and many people think it is one of the best organised and best attended equestrian events in the world. I came here to see how they do it. I left behind a few London 2012 pins. And I had a great time.

The CHIO is the Official International Equestrian Event of the Federal Republic of Germany. It's run every summer. Last year more than 300,000 people came from all over the world to watch international-level showjumping, dressage, eventing, four-in-hand driving and vaulting. Check out the CHIO website at www.chioaachen.com for all the details.

I was there with my husband Jonathan (a keen carriage-driver) on Saturday - cross-country day for the eventers and for the four-in-hand driving. The night before, I watched the eventers show-jump in the main arena, a huge space with covered grandstands on all sides. I was, of course, cheering on the British contingent, but also keen to see the German, French and Swedish teams, all with their top stars vying for Olympic team selection (including Nicolas Touzaint, the first French winner of Badminton).

Lots of poles were falling but the main problem was the tight time, with very few able to manage without some time faults. Best of the British: Nicola Wilson on Opposition Buzz. Most surprising: Bettina Hoy, leader after dressage, collecting more than 20 faults on Ringwood Cockatoo. He was later withdrawn.

Read more of “Getting up close to thrilling international equestrian action”

Last week I had the pleasure of announcing that BP has become the latest Tier One partner for London 2012.

As Britain’s biggest company, I believe our place is to be right up there, throwing our weight behind London 2012 which is going to be the one of the biggest events ever staged in this country.

The Olympic and Paralympic movements are founded on a belief in human endeavour and high performance. These attributes are also at the heart of BP where today, more than ever, we need great people who, like great sportsmen, are prepared to push the frontiers of achievement. We need them to tackle today’s energy challenges including affordability, energy security and climate change.

Read more of “Delighted to be part of a great celebration of human endeavour”

So, one of the first roles in my new job (having made the move from HR) has been to review the sports equipment lists from Athens, Sydney and Beijing. With over a million pieces of kit involved, there’s a lot to review! The inner-geek in me (which is probably not that inner) is loving the various equipment peculiarities and oddities that each sport has to offer.

Towels have been in the news this week as Wimbledon announced they lost about £60,000 worth of towels each year. I am not sure how many they have for each Championships, but I know Athens had somewhere in the region of 80,000 - not for showering in the Village (which of course they had too), but more for athletes and officials during events. So, for example, Tennis players wiping their hands between points in games or archers before they let fly.

Elsewhere, my favourites have included the need for 3 metal detectors at the Beach Volleyball – presumably to retrieve lost belly button piercings? – and I am determined to get to the bottom of why they needed 60 crossbars for the high jump.

Each sport presents its own little treasure trove of trivia – I'm hoping that aside from anything else it'll come in useful at the next LOCOG quiz night.

The Equality and Inclusion team arranged a 'Dining with a Difference' event last week and invited representatives from contractors working on the Olympic Park. These events are facilitated through the Employers Forum on Disability, an organisation that supports companies to explore how disability affects people, customers and the communities in which they do business.

At the event, which took place at the Docklands Museum, guests were able to whet their appetites by viewing the Jack the Ripper exhibition before dinner was served.

It was an informal evening hosted by Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) Chairman John Armitt and the Programme Director of the ODA's Delivery Partner Ian Galloway, along with the ODA/CLM Equality and Inclusion team and the Dining with a Difference team.

John Armitt chats to guests:

Read more of “Breaking down barriers for disabled workers”

Yesterday I was at the British Museum for the announcement that BT is the sixth Tier One Partner of the London 2012 Games. With such a grand and historic venue BP had made their intentions clear for the unveiling of this new partnership. When walking into the British Museum, there was an obvious buzz amongst the media and stakeholders, and all seemed intrigued by the foam mats and huge screen.



After the soothing music and breakfast snacks, the mellow feeling was soon brought to an abrupt end with a pacy and thrilling exhibition from our young fencing stars of tomorrow. Before the first speech came and the unveiling began, a fantastic short film of the Olympics of yester-year built tension, with many of the images still creating those butterflies in my stomach.

Read more of “BP, Olympic Sponsor Launch”

It all started with Nicky from our Government Relations Team copying me into a flurry of emails between the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Duke of York’s Office and our Consulate in Milan. The purpose? A meeting with the Mayor of Milan and her team; the Duke of York, our Ambassador and Consul General; and representation from London 2012 and Glasgow 2014 to discuss Expo 2015.

On March 31, Milan was named as the location for the 2015 Expo. The Milanese bid committee is now reforming into an Organising Committee taking the form of a public company. The Expo will run for 6 months from May to October 2015 with the theme of “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life”. There will be 7,000 events, 29 million visitors, 70,000 jobs, 36,000 volunteers and investment in the region of €20bn.

The Expo site covers an area of 2.2m square meters in a run-down area of north west Milan. There are a number of interesting projects associated with it, including construction and extension of tube lines, new motorways (crossing Lombardy and linking Milan to Brescia), the new Outer Eastern Orbital Road, the Water Way and Land Way, creating a 20km trail for walking, running and cycling. The Green Rays project will create a further 72km of cycle paths.

Much of this resonates with what we are doing here for 2012.

Read more of “What do the Duke of York, the Mayor of Milan and London 2012 have in common?”

Last week, the Community Transport Association (CTA) showed our Transport Strategic Planning team at the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) the innovative and different types of Community Transport in London.

Community Transport provides various services to individuals and groups within local communities. These range from school excursions and shopping trips to scooter loans and voluntary experience. Many Community Transport vehicles are accessible to disabled people of all impairments.

The visit provided an interesting insight into how Community Transport delivers high-quality local solutions to meet different people’s transport needs. We saw how Community Transport can be used to help make London 2012 the most accessible Olympic and Paralympic Games ever.

The ODA's Principal Access Officer, Mark trying out Community Transport:

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I am a practising occupational physician and lead the Park health team, a joint venture responsible for delivering the Olympic Delivery Authority’s (ODA) vision for occupational health.

The commitment of the ODA goes beyond the protection of the health and safety of everyone working on the construction of the infrastructure and venues for London 2012 - it extends to enhancing their well-being. As a result, the ODA has commissioned a team of occupational health practitioners – hygienists, nurses and physicians – to provide a comprehensive free service to all those working on the Olympic Park. 

Park Health staff at work within the Medical Centre:

Read more of “Preventing illness and enhancing wellbeing on the Olympic Park”