London 2012 blog

One of the nice things about the Olympic and Paralympic world is meeting colleagues doing the same job as you but from other Host Cities. The IOC Sport and Environment Commission meets once a year and as well as general discussions around environmental initiatives of National Olympic Committees and various international sport federations, it is an occasion for the environment and sustainability representatives from the four current Host Cities to meet.

On this occasion we had a full house; we were joined for the first time by Natalia Onischenko, the new ecology advisor to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games. Hers will be a big task; the environmental implications of the Winter Games are always more challenging in view of the alpine environments in which they take place. So it is good to see that Sochi is bringing together a professional ecology team so early in the preparation phase of the Games.

Read more of “Sustainability united”

As one might imagine, there is a lot of to-ing and fro-ing between London and the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is probably no surprise either that the usual means of travel is by air between London and Geneva. But is there a better way?

This week I'm at the annual meeting of the IOC’s Sport and Environment Commission, in Lausanne and felt this was an ideal opportunity to try the overland route by train. I knew the high-speed leg to Paris would be fine; for starters it is always a pleasure to see the new St Pancras International station. Within a handful of minutes we are speeding past the Olympic Park site at Stratford – a brief glimpse of daylight as we flash through the future Stratford International station before emerging beside the large wind turbines at Dagenham. Into a tunnel again, under the Thames and a brief stop at the new Ebbsfleet International, and then we really get going – flying without taking off; within less than two and a half hours from leaving London we are in Paris.

The next bit is not ideal but the RER trains across Paris to the Gare de Lyon are at least frequent and quick. Within an hour I am leaving on the TGV via Dijon, Frasne, Vallorbe and final destination Lausanne.

All aboard at the Gare de Lyon:

Read more of “Letting the train take the strain”

...There goes the charabang
Looks like I'm gonna be stuck here the whole summer
Well what a bummer
I can think of a lot worse places to be
Like down in the street
Or down in the sewer
Or even on the end of a skewer
The Stranglers, 1977

Don't let it be said that the Sustainability team miss out on all the fun. On Tuesday we were guests of Thames Water's Sewer Week; invited to a guided tour of Abbey Mills pumping station and a walk along the old Bazelgette sewers at Hackney Wick.

Suited and booted, ready to go down the sewer:

Read more of “A cultural experience...down the sewer”

Some weeks ago we issued an internal request to London 2012 staff to come up with suggestions for improving our in-house green credentials. We had many good ideas put forward: mostly around waste recycling, energy saving and travel and these will be fed into our emerging ‘Green Office’ policy.

In fact this appeal received more feedback than pretty well all other intranet posts to date. Either that means we have a lot of improvement to do, or we have a lot of green conscious employees. I think it is a bit of both.

Another reason was the incentive reward: a visit to the nature reserve on our building’s roof – the 33rd floor! Luckily we did not plan this for last Friday; today’s visit was fine and not too windy. Apart from enjoying panoramic views across the city, we were treated to an ecology tour of the green roof plot by local expert and ‘Living Roof’ expert, Dusty Gedge.

Read more of “A trip to the top - a garden on a roof”