The government claims that its Olympic business legacy programme – launched as long ago as 2007 – has positioned UK construction firms to win a share of £1.5bn in high-value contract opportunities that could come from the next winter and summer Olympics.
The £1.5bn estimate for Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016 is based on economic benefits from past events but includes other types of work as well as construction.
Overseas business promotion body UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) has identified around £50m of work that could be done by British firms on the Sochi Games which has a total of 218 construction projects, and £1.8bn of opportunities at the Rio Olympics, including building a velodrome and aquatics centre.
Representatives from both Olympstroy, the Russian Olympic delivery body for the Sochi games, and the PPP consortia building the Olympic Park in Brazil and Brazilian state and central government representatives have also visited the Olympic Park in London to meet UK construction firms. Key Brazilian contractors have also had meetings with UK construction firms.
UK design firms have already chalked up contract wins in Rio de Janeiro and Sochi. Design consultants Aecom, Wilkinson Eyre and Expedition Engineering have won the contract to produce the Rio Olympic Park masterplan, while Populous has designed the 40,000-seat Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi that will host the opening and closing ceremonies.
A spokesman for UKTI said: “The successful staging of the Olympics has reminded the world that the UK delivers large-scale construction projects to the highest standard. UK Trade & Investment is now working with the construction sector to help companies capitalise on multi-million pound opportunities around the world, including around future Olympic events in Russia and Brazil.”
British Business Embassy programme
UKTI and the Department of Business Innovation and Skills are jointly running the British Business Embassy programme, a series of 17 business promotion events during the Olympics which includes a Global Sports Summit set to take place on 5 September.
The business legacy programme is set to continue with the British Business Embassy programme being repeated at Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games in 2014 and the Sochi Winter Olympics.
The UKTI and BIS also have plans to launch “Great Britain Delivers”, a multi-media marketing campaign “taking the message to the world that the UK can deliver major global projects on time and on budget”.
UKTI also plans further trade missions to Russia, which is also hosting the 2018 World Cup, Brazil and Qatar, host of the 2022 World Cup.
In March, UKTI took 12 companies, including four construction firms, on a trade mission to Russia to look at business opportunities linked to hosting the football World Cup in 2018. It estimates that £150m of work on the stadia could be accessed by the UK construction industry.
