Last week members of the London 2012 Procurement team and I travelled up to the Bolton Wanderers Football Stadium for the start of two days of business events in the region.

That evening I hosted a dinner for leading business figures from the North West to find out more about their views on London 2012 and how the region was reacting to the contract opportunities that are being generated. There were a good mixture of businesses working on the project, and umbrella business organisations who wanted to mobilise their members to push for London 2012 contracts.

It was an early start the following morning, starting with a Radio 5 Live interview, followed by a business breakfast attended by nearly 200 representatives from across the region. The conference was a good opportunity to tell some of the leading business representatives from the North West about the excellent progress being made on the Olympic Park site, and the enormous opportunities the project is creating for all sizes of businesses across the UK. In this economic climate these contracts are becoming 'economic gold'.

Businesses then got to spend one-to-one time with the Supply Chain team, learning about CompeteFor, having queries answered and getting key advice relevant to their business. I had the opportunity to speak to several local newspapers and once that had been concluded we set off for a tour of a steel factory where the company responsible for providing the steel work for the Olympic Stadium are based. Walking around the factory was a fascinating experience, seeing first hand the engineering expertise going into this huge project. We also got to see the steel rakers that have begun to go up on site and are already changing the skyline of the Olympic Park.


The North West has a strong reputation across the UK for successfully supplying and hosting major events, including the Commonwealth Games in 2002. So far the region has 28 companies who have been awarded London 2012-related contracts and many more are anticipated further down the supply chain. There is an estimated £2.5bn worth of contracts still up for grabs.

Find out more about London 2012 business opportunities on the Business Network