London 2012’s legacy has been palpable on the construction industry, says Shaun McCarthy.
It is four years since the opening ceremony of the London Olympics. As Chair of the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 four years ago I could look back with pride at six years hard work with my team to provide assurance over the world’s most sustainable Games and look forward with some anticipation to the Games and their legacy.
I was one of a handful of people in the world who knew what the Olympic cauldron would look like before the opening ceremony. It was not a cauldron at all of course, the multiple burners rising out of the ground each represented a nation of the Olympic family.
The inspiration behind the design was sustainability. The structure weighed 16 tonnes compared to 300 tonnes in Beijing and the flame used 15 % of the gas. After use, each burner would be send to the country with its name engraved on as a souvenir. The rest of the structure was re-used. This is just one example of what made the Games special from a sustainability point of view. So, what has changed? Economically, not much. London 2012 bid was won in a boom and delivered in a recession.
Rio won their Olympic bid when they were one of the BRIC economies tipped for stardom, the reality is economic hardship, devaluation of the currency and alleged corruption at the highest level of government. I hope Rio’s Games are able to make some contribution to the economic recovery of this fine city in the way that London 2012 contributed to the regeneration of the East End. The world seems a less safe place than in 2012.
Tragic events around the world driven by terrorist atrocities make me apprehensive for the safety of athletes and spectators in Rio. I am also reminded of the great favour G4S did for London in making such a botched job of recruiting security guards, the army had to step in. I visited an Olympic venue every day during the Games and was mightily reassured by their presence. Has the construction sector changed? Yes I think so. The ODA taught us a lot.
Firstly the Olympic Games has an immovable deadline. Major project end dates tend to slip but you can’t stage London 2012 Olympics in 2013 or 2014. Unlike the stories we hear from Rio, all the infrastructure for London was available 12 months before the opening ceremony giving plenty of time for test events and for the operators to familiarise themselves with their venues. We also learned a lot about sustainable construction, the work to decontaminate the land, high efficiency buildings, waste diverted from landfill, certified timber.
The ODA broke new ground in these areas and most major projects are picking up the baton. Construction and FM clients, particularly for large projects are much more thoughtful about sustainability than they were in 2012, particularly social and economic sustainability. Tender questions, contracts and KPIs around sustainability are taken more seriously. However, there remains a gap between small and large projects in terms of their sustainability demands.
There also remains much work in progress. Supply chains lacked the competence to deliver consistently high standards of sustainability, this inspired me to work with major players in the construction sector to develop the Supply Chain School, a free virtual learning environment for the industry. The industry is incapable of consistently and efficiently managing sustainability performance. There is a big difference between performance reporting and performance management, the latter deals with the here and now and requires a different approach to use of data.
I hope the slow uptake of our Sustainability Tool accelerates like Usain Bolt in the near future. Finally, the diversity of our workforce is still not reflective of the diversity of our population.
The ODA did a lot in this area and my colleague Liz Holford is leading a great programme of work on Fairness, Inclusion and Respect in the workplace but more needs to be done. The industry needs to move away from the Dickensian HR methods operated by some and adopt modern, open and fair processes to recruit, retain and reward our richly diverse and talented workforce.
There was much discussion about legacy of London 2012, which was hilariously sent up in the spoof TV programme. The social and economic legacy of London 2012 is there for all to see. Stratford, East London is now a place that people aspire to live and work with great green space, transport links and high quality housing being developed. Even the monstrous media centre has a great legacy use.
This building could accommodate five jumbo jets parked wing tip to wing tip, if ever there was a white elephant, this was it. Tenants such as BT Vision, Loughborough University and numerous high tec startup businesses have created a thriving place with lots of high quality jobs for the area’s youthful population.
My Commission always argued that there is also a legacy of knowledge and I was delighted to see all the hard work to develop the London 2012 Learning Legacy website, which is still in regular use. My own Commission’s website is also still available, thanks to Royal Holloway University, telling the independent story of London’s sustainable Games. Will Rio be more or less sustainable than London?
It is not possible to compare. For example, London 2012 achieved zero waste to landfill during the Games, this is not possible in Rio as there is not enough recycling capacity in Rio to deal with the waste. Rio claim to have 100% recycled metals for the medals. In 2012 there was not enough recycled gold in the world to achieve this. Rio’s social, environmental and economic conditions are different to London so each event needs to be judged in its own context.
I wish Rio every success in delivering a safe, inspiring and sustainable Olympic Games in these difficult and challenging times. Shaun McCarthy OBE is Chair Supply Chain Sustainability and an independent advisor, author and speaker in the field of sustainable business policy and practice.
