london-2012 | Andy Roberts

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The London 2012 torch mixes the Olympian and the corporate

http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/05/19/the-london-2012-torch-mixes-the-olympian-and-the-corporate

Sponsors to the fore in torch relay but who will light the flame in the London 2012 Olympic stadium?This article titled “The London 2012 torch mixes the Olympian and the corporate” was written by Owen Gibson, for guardian.co.uk on Thursday 19th May 2011 09.58 UTCAs Seb Coe stood up to speak about the inspirational effect of the flame that will a year from now be passing through the cities, towns and villages of Britain having been “lit by the power of the sun on Mount Olympus”, three other figures looked on intently.They sat alongside him as he went on to talk about the galvanising effect he expected the tour to have on communities as the Olympic spirit coursed through them and they hosted their own celebratory events in the early summer gloaming.And they listened intently as Coe spoke affectingly about a husband and wife team who sold their house so the community gym they run in south-east London could survive – his nomination for one of the 7,200 out of 8,000 torchbearer slots reserved for members of the public.The three onlookers, who then got to take their turn to speak, were representatives of the three “presenting partners” – Samsung, Coca-Cola and Lloyds TSB – who get to plaster their branding over the torch relay. The man from Coca-Cola alone promised to bring “happiness and celebration” to the route.It is they (along with local authorities along the way) who effectively pay for the hoopla that will surround the torch relay that organisers hope will be the moment that the nation drops any lingering cynicism and truly embraces the Games.It was the most obvious manifestation in London to date of the sometimes uneasy, but ultimately profitable, mix of heady Olympic ideals and hard-nosed commercialism that has turned the modern Games into the globe-straddling event that it is.The genius of the International Olympic Committee’s commercial growth since the Los Angeles Games of 1984 has been to rake in huge sums from sponsors while enforcing very strict rules on how they can use the rights.As one of the very few events that the IOC allows them to overtly brand, the torch relay is where that symbiotic relationship – the organising committee Locog needs the sponsors to contribute £700m towards its £2bn budget, the sponsors want to extract every last drop of value out of their huge investment – becomes clearest.So it was that Coe began his press conference invoking the loftiest of Olympic ideals and ended it defending the involvement of Coke and answering questions on how many fizzy drinks his children guzzled.In common with their wider activity to date surrounding the London Games – which has tended to focus on warm and fuzzy corporate social responsibility activity rather than overt branding – all three sponsors have bought into the idea of using the relay as a means to run campaigns offering worthy members of the public the opportunity to claim their own slice of Olympic history and run a few hundred yards with the torch.A Locog team has spent two years painstakingly researching the 8,000-mile route and negotiating with local authorities. They hope that when the relay hits town, backed by wall-to-wall coverage from local media who will concentrate on the rich back stories of those running and the celebratory event that will take place every night (something between a Radio 1 roadshow and a county fair sponsored by multinationals, by the sound of things) Olympic fever will take hold up and down the country.Whether they succeed will depend to a large extent on those sponsors. If they get it right, Locog, the brands and the public will benefit. Get it wrong, and it could dent public enthusiasm.Sally Hancock, head of 2012 at Lloyds TSB, argued at the launch that in many ways the Olympics couldn’t have come at a better time for her company. Struggling to repair public trust and negotiating the internal challenge of merging two huge banks, the opportunity to create a feelgood factor around an event that is at once local and national in scale could be a huge one.But if the public is turned off and fails to buy into the concept – Locog has promised half the runners will be between 12 and 24 and 90% will be ordinary members of the public, to be nominated through four separate campaigns by the organisers and the sponsors– then it will feel like a long 8,000 miles.Locog will also have to get the balance right between safety and celebration. The defining public image of the Beijing international torch tour, which caused the IOC to turn it into a domestic event confined to the host country, was of a scrum of security guards bludgeoning their way through human rights protesters as bussed-in supporters of the Chinese government looked on.The UK’s experience will be becalmed by comparison. But Coe – who has often described Britain as a “slow-burn nation” that will take time to reach fever pitch over the Olympics – knows more than anyone how crucial it is that the relay is the moment at which the flame ignites that enthusiasm.And by the time the torch reaches the Olympic stadium, the eyes of the world will be on it. Which raises three obvious questions: Who will light the cauldron? How? And where will it be (there is still debate within Locog about whether it should be in the stadium, on top of it or on some sort of structure nearby)?The most memorable final torchbearers – Muhammad Ali in Atlanta, Cathy Freeman in Sydney – have held resonance beyond merely their status as sporting heroes in their home country. And the more spectacular the method of lighting the cauldron (the archer in Barcelona, the flying Beijing gymnast), the greater the risk of global humiliation.The task for Danny Boyle, the Trainspotting director already planning the opening ceremony in an east London warehouse, will be to come up with something to top what has gone before. Bookmakers immediately installed Sir Steve Redgrave as favourite, but will the emphasis on youth that characterised the bid promises lead organisers to a younger face? Coe, who might have been a leading contender were he not already so intimately involved with the staging of the Games, has already ruled himself out. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogThe London 2012 torch mixes the Olympian and the corporateRelated posts:London Olympics organisers appeal to protesters not to disrupt flame routeLondon 2012 Olympics countdown clock stopsLondon 2012: Ten best of the web
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May 19 2011, 5:24am | Comments »
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Health agency issues Olympics emergency warning

http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/05/05/health-agency-issues-olympics-emergency-warning

Health Protection Agency says upheaval caused by its abolition could pose ‘extreme risks’ during the London 2012 Olympic Games

This article titled “Health agency issues Olympics emergency warning” was written by James Meikle and Owen Gibson, for The Guardian on Thursday 5th May 2011 16.30 UTC The NHS’s main public health body says its planned abolition weeks before the 2012 Olympics could compromise emergency responses if there are serious incidents at the games. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) warns the upheaval generated by huge organisational changes across the health service could pose extreme risks when Britain hosts the world’s biggest sporting event next summer. There is “high potential” for funds aimed at protecting the public at the event to be cut, it says. In the past, the risk to public health at the Olympics has come from incidents as diverse as food poisoning and terrorism. The agency is responsible for disease control and monitoring as well as scientific and public health advice during emergencies. Its responsibilities are to be absorbed within the Department of Health. Other authorities which tackle such crises are also in turmoil, with staff leaving primary care trusts well before they are abolished in 2013, while local councils are being hit by spending cuts. Labour has demanded the shakeup should “at the very least” be put on hold until after the London Olympics. Diane Abbott, the shadow health minister, said: “David Cameron seems to be prioritising driving through his NHS reorganisation above public safety during the Olympics. “For this Tory-led government to push our public health services into a state of chaos and abolish the current agency right before London 2012, with people from all over the world arriving in London, and the eyes of the entire world on Britain, is nothing short of a disgrace.” The revelation of the HPA’s concern over the Tories’ NHS plans comes as public health professionals fear their voice is being ignored, even during the government’s two-month listening exercise. They have no members on the Future Forum group overseeing the exercise, headed by GP Steve Field. The timetable for the shakeup has already been hit by the break in the progress of legislation – meaning the first changes are now scheduled for July 2012, the month in which the games begin, instead of April. That shift has led the HPA to say the risk of “compromising” national emergency responses during the Olympics is now even higher than when it first raised the issue in its official response to the shakeup in March. It warned then that there might be “considerable risks to the national capability to launch multi-agency responses to incidents and emergencies”. The agency said the planned changes would create “considerable uncertainty” and “preparation for, and response to, incidents arising in association with the Olympic and Paralypmic Games will be compromised” unless an appropriate structure replaced the current one. In a statement to the Guardian, the agency said: “Deferring the changes to July 2012 would increase the risk. We have made the Department of Health aware of our views concerning the risks in delaying.” It said a small number of its 3,850 staff had already left, citing concerns about the independence of their work and advice if they were moved to the health department. The HPA’s March document states that the move could also undermine wider public and professional confidence. Abbott said: “It is time that this government listened to public health professionals. Alarm bells are now ringing within the Health Protection Agency, local authorities and also local primary care trusts, and increasingly there will also be concern amongst the public. “We have worked hard to bring the Olympic Games to Britain. It should be a time in which we showcase what Britain is about to the rest of the world. The priority should be public safety and ensuring that we are prepared to respond robustly to major incidents and emergencies.” Lindsey Davies, former national director of pandemic influenza preparedness at the Department of Health who is president of the Faculty of Public Health, said: “The entire public health community has grave concerns about the potential risks from the timing of the changes.” Although there have been few major health scares linked to past Olympics, there was a terror attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics and a bombing which killed two people in Atlanta in 1996. A stomach bug struck competitors at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi last year. The agency says the games will raise the risk of diseases spreading due to the influx of international visitors and from mass gatherings in restricted spaces during the games. Early identification will help reduce the risk of widespread exposure and minimise the impact on visitors as well as local communities. Other concerns include heatstroke among crowds. About 300,000 people a day are expected to be in the Olympic Park during the height of the games. The Department of Health said it was working to ensure “business continuity” was maintained during the transition. A team had been established to ensure the the ministry and the NHS is able “to respond to major emergencies continues to be robust and to ensure the requirements of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games are met. Work is under way to test how the proposed new systems would function during the 2012 Games. This work will focus and strengthen safety at the 2012 Games”. It is understood Olympics organisers are aware of the concerns but have not been directly involved in discussions. Thousands of athletes begin arriving in Britain for training camps in the UK in June 2012. The Olympic village opens in mid-July and the games run from 27 July to 12 August 2012. The Paralympics run from the end of August into September. A total of 17,000 athletes and officials from about 200 countries will stay in the village on the Olympic Park, in east London. In total, more than 10,500 athletes will compete in 26 sports based in various venues around the capital and beyond. Sailing will be based in Weymouth and the Olympic football tournament will be played in various grounds around the country. According to the detailed transport plan released last month, the busiest day of the games – Saturday 4 August – will see 700,000 ticket holders moving around London to watch sessions at 11 venues. In all, 8.8m tickets are available for the Games, with 6.6m on sale to the general public. About 20,000 broadcast and print journalists will also descend on London.

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May 5 2011, 12:51pm | Comments »
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Olympics 2012: Are there ways to save on tickets?

http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/04/08/olympics-2012-are-there-ways-to-save-on-tickets

What’s the best way to get good value Olympics 2012 tickets without breaking the bank?

This article titled “Olympics 2012: Are there ways to save on tickets?” was written by Jim Griffin, for guardian.co.uk on Friday 8th April 2011 11.07 UTC Every week a Guardian Money reader submits a question, and it’s up to you to help him or her out – a selection of the best answers will appear in next Saturday’s paper. This week’s question: My husband is planning to spend more than £1,000 on Olympics tickets, which seems crazy to me. He wants to go for the pricier tickets, as he says the cheap £20 ones will be over-subscribed. Is he right? Any tips I can pass on for reducing his (our) bill? What are your thoughts?

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April 8 2011, 6:34am | Comments »
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Olympic stadium completed on time

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London 2012 Olympic Stadium designers hail ‘the beginning of the end’ of the construction phase as the main arena comes in on schedule and under budget.

This article titled “Olympic stadium completed on time” was written by Owen Gibson, for The Guardian on Tuesday 29th March 2011 19.51 UTC The designers of the Olympic Stadium in east London have hailed its completion as “the beginning of the end” for the construction phase of the 2012 Games. As International Olympic Committee inspectors arrived in the city for a three-day visit to check on progress, organisers hoped the good news on the completion of the Stratford stadium would overshadow an ongoing row with the British Olympic Association over how any hypothetical profit would be distributed. Lord Coe, the chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, watched Frankie Fredericks, a four-time Olympic silver medallist, lay the last piece of turf on the infield. The £486m stadium is the second major venue on the Olympic Park to be finished, after the Velodrome was unveiled earlier last month. “I do not want anybody to run away with the idea that this stadium is ready to stage a track-and-field championship tomorrow,” said Coe. “But as a chairman of an organising committee to be able to tick off this venue is terrific. It is fantastic. I think it will be an intimate theatre for sport and it has fantastic legacy potential, too.” Work began on the 80,000-seat stadium in May 2008 and the Olympic Delivery Authority, which is responsible for spending £8.1bn of public money on the infrastructure to host the Games, said its completion was a “huge milestone”. “The Olympic Stadium has been finished on time and under budget,” said ODA chairman John Armitt. “To complete a complicated project such as this in less than three years is testament to the skill and professionalism of the UK construction industry.” Rod Sheard, of stadium architects Populous, said he was looking forward to watching “this innovative design perform for the first time”. He added: “Its completion marks the beginning of the end of the construction phase of London’s Olympic Games.”

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March 29 2011, 3:35pm | Comments »
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London 2012 tickets, Japan appeal and census targeted by scammers

http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/27/london-2012-tickets-japan-appeal-and-census-targeted-by-scammers

Warnings issued over phoney doorstop callers, fake emails asking for money and too-good-to-be-true London 2012 Olympic tickets

This article titled “London 2012 tickets, Japan appeal and census targeted by scammers” was written by Jill Insley, for The Observer on Sunday 27th March 2011 00.05 UTC Bogus doorstep callers have been posing as census collectors to try to get into people’s homes – and householders are being warned to be on their guard for fraudsters after today’s deadline for filling in the form. Following an attempt by a fraudster purporting to be a census official from the county council to get into an elderly man’s home in Leicestershire, the Local Government Association has urged people to be vigilant. Paul Bettison, the chairman of local government regulation, said: “Fraudsters are known to take advantage of any situation. If they can make money from it, then they will give it a go. “People visiting a household for official business should be able to provide photographic identification and unless that is the case, nobody should allow anyone access to their property.” Official census collectors will, from 6 April, visit a small number of households that have failed to complete the census – which can be returned in a pre-paid envelope or filled in online – but they will provide identification. Anyone who thinks they have been targeted by a bogus caller should call the census helpline on 0300 0201 101. Fraudsters have also been trying to scam money out of people wanting to donate cash to the Japan Tsunami Appeal. A spokesman for the Red Cross said: “There are some fraudulent emails circulating claiming to be raising money for the Japan Tsunami Appeal. These may request that you donate through companies like Western Union or Money Bookers, which we would never do. If you suspect an email is fraudulent, do not open attachments or click on links. “In addition to this we have also received reports of people requesting money over the phone, or cash on the doorstep. Although the British Red Cross does undertake both street and telephone fundraising, our calls are for regular commitment by direct debit and not for donations by cash or credit card.” An email forwarded to the Observer includes a donation form requesting details that including the donor’s credit card details, their mother’s maiden name, driver’s licence or passport details, and Verified by Visa password. Mark South, a spokesman for the Red Cross, confirmed the email was fake and added that people wanting to donate money to Japan should ensure they never divulge their personal details to an unknown source. Donors should only give through trusted channels, such as the Red Cross website or via the British Red Cross hotline on 08450 53 53 53. All British Red Cross marketing email addresses end @mail.redcross.org.uk, and the charity does not use general email providers such as BT Internet or Gmail to solicit donations. Anyone suspicious of an email they have received should contact the British Red Cross supporter care team on 0844 87 100 87 or at supportercare@redcross.org.uk. The 2012 Olympics have also proved a temptation for fraudsters who have set up websites to act as fake or unauthorised ticket outlets for the games. The official Olympic website – http://www.london2012.com – includes a tool that will check if a website is a genuine outlet, plus a list of known unauthorised websites claiming to offer London 2012 tickets. These include genuine-sounding names like http://www.london-olympics-tickets.org.uk and http://www.london-2012-games.com/2012-olympics-tickets – two sites that are defunct or look like they have been abandoned. However, other fake or unauthorised sites are still live, including http://www.londonolympicstickets.com and http://www.2010olympictickets.net. Real tickets will carry the name of the purchaser, and it is illegal to sell them on through auction sites such as eBay or to ticket resale sites. Those who buy legitimate tickets but can’t go to the event will be able to resell through an official resale exchange: this will launch early in 2012 before tickets are sent out, and will set prices at the tickets’ face value. But, a spokesman for London 2012 admitted, many people will have had tickets bought on their behalf and while spot checks may be carried out, only those with cancelled or fake tickets are likely to be turned away from events. He said it would be impossible to check whether all tickets are being used by the original purchasers and their friends and families as 8.8m tickets will be issued for events at 34 venues over 16 days. “We’re more interested in protecting people from losing their money through the purchase of fake tickets,” he added. Michael Norton, the managing director of PayPoint.net, said: “We expect fraud levels to increase dramatically following the passing of the ticket application deadline on 26 April. Opportunistic fraudsters will be looking to take advantage of those unlucky consumers not able to get tickets for some of the most oversubscribed events.” Tickets may only be bought using a Visa debit, credit or pre-paid card, which enable consumers to claim all their money back if they do fall into the trap of buying fake tickets. Norton said ticketholders should check the London 2012 site for a list of the official sales channels, research the true cost of tickets and not be lulled into a false sense of security by a well-designed site – some of the fake ones look very legitimate. He added that they should print out or take a copy of all sellers’ details, including the terms of the ticket purchase, full contact information for the ticket seller, and any published criteria about ticket location and likely delivery date. This will let them pursue any issue with the order even if the seller website changes and will support any future credit card chargeback.

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March 27 2011, 10:00am | Comments »
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London 2012: Ten best of the web

http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/25/london-2012-ten-best-of-the-web

Lots of sites about London 2012 Olympics tickets including Oscar Pistorius, ticketing guides and Visa’s new Olympics ad

This article titled “London 2012: Ten best of the web” was written by Steve Busfield, for guardian.co.uk on Friday 25th March 2011 12.52 UTC 490 days to go As promised, here is this week’s selection of the best London 2012 Olympics content on the web (please add links below the line or send via email or Twitter. 1. Top 10 Olympic travel tips from Diamon Geezer. He also has a pretty good ticket guide (Via Owen Gibson) 2. There’s an (unofficial) app for that. 3. Visa has a London 2012 ad featuring plenty of Olympic stars. Eat your heart out Mastercard. Oliver Holt in the Mirror had this to say about it. (Via Penny Woods) 4. Worried about staying in London during the Games? Matt Beard of the London Evening Standard reports: “Top hotel chains in crisis talks with 2012 Olympics organisers over ‘rip-off’ re-sale packages.” 5. Have you looked at the terms and conditions of Olympic Tickets? Nick Pearce did and here’s what he found. 6. Oscar Pistorius’ dream of running in theOlympic Games at London 2012 moved a step closer when the South African set a new personal best, just 0.06 seconds short of the ‘A’ standard needed for automatic Olympic qualification, reports the BBC. 7. Want to know more about the BOA v Locog row? This piece by Alan Hubbard uses boxing metaphors to explain. (Via Owen Gibson again) 8. The mountain-biking arena is ready. 9. Should handball be an Olympic sport? There was a brief but entertaining below the line debate on our Watching The Games series. 10. For 2012 refuseniks, here’s an apposite cartoon from the Daily Telegraph’s Matt. (Via Chei Amlani) Please share your thoughts or more links below the line or send via email or Twitter.

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March 25 2011, 8:31am | Comments »
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Will the 2012 Olympics be a sell out?

http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/24/will-the-2012-olympics-be-a-sell-out

Now the London 2012 Olympic Games tickets have been on sale for a week, the success of the event in London will be determined by the sports fans.

This article titled “Will the 2012 Olympics be a sell out?” was written by Owen Gibson, for guardian.co.uk on Thursday 24th March 2011 11.21 UTC It is an extraordinary ticketing process in more ways than one. Ten days into the application process for 6.6m of the 8.8m tickets to the biggest sporting event ever to hit these shores and it remains hard to precisely calibrate the level of enthusiasm for being there. The keenest have constructed elaborate spreadsheets and affixed colour coded Post-it notes to their already dog eared Guardian guides as they try and spread their bets between events they are desperate to see and their chances of getting the hottest tickets (opening and closing ceremonies, velodrome, evening athletics sessions among them). For others, next August still feels like a long way away – particularly if there are more pressing financial concerns. My barber reckons he’ll leave it until closer to the time and see what’s left, our childminder has become so used to picking up tickets at the last minute from eBay or Viagogo that she too can’t see the point in shelling out more than a year before the Games. For some football fans, there’s the annual debate about whether to renew their season ticket to be had first, for others a discussion about whether to forego the family holiday in favour of the Games. The fact that Locog has promised a ticket resale system has perhaps encouraged those inclined to wait it out. Locog has successfully communicated the “marathon not a sprint” message to avoid a rush on the first day that applications opened – but could be a victim of its own success if people translate that as a signal not to hurry at all. Expect the reminders about this being the best chance to secure tickets for the events you really want to see to increase in frequency as the closing date on April 26 approaches. For the media too, there seems to be uncertainty about how to judge success. The usual media narrative around the sale of tickets for big events (Glastonbury, Take That, Champions League final) runs like this: huge hype around the onsale date, followed by a mad rush, creaking technology and a spate of stories about tickets being sold for exhorbitant sums and online scams. Because this process is so different, we have instead already seen the first stories hinting that sales have been “steady” rather than spectacular. In truth, it is hard to criticise Locog for doing exactly what they said they would do – give people time to find their way through a complex process. During this period of stasis, Locog – which can monitor what registered users are doing – believes many people are still calculating their options and trying different combinations of tickets in their online shopping baskets before hitting the buy button. Such is the scale of the task – 645 sessions across 26 sports at five main price points – that it was never going to be simple. Locog deserves huge credit for thinking long and hard about how to balance the need to raise the £2bn required to stage the Games with its promise to make it as accessible as possible. The eye watering prices for the most expensive (including that £2012 opening ceremony ticket) were justified on the basis that it was better for that money to flow to Locog, where it could subsidise cheaper price points, than touts who would mark them up anyway. But even given the number of £20 tickets (2.5m), the pay your age scheme, the concessions for over 60s and the free tickets for some school kids there is no getting away from the fact that the sums involved soon add up – particularly if you are buying for a whole family, and particularly if you are coming from outside London. There are already some grumbles about the high prices of the packages being sold through Thomas Cook and for all the entreaties from Locog and the Mayor to the hotel industry, staying in London during the Games was never going to be cheap. Which? has also raised concerns about the fact that money could come out of ticket buyers accounts on May 10 but it could be as late as June 24 before they are told which tickets they have. For most, it is likely to be a big outlay in one go. And while some have alighted upon the solution of applying for a Visa card with an interest free period to spread the cost, it is something of a surprise that Locog have not put in a place a more formal scheme to pay in installments. While reluctant to go into detail about levels of demand for individual sports and sessions, organisers say they are pleased with the level of steady engagement and that the spikes of demand are largely where you would expect them to be. Sports that are less familiar, but on the Olympic Park, are unlikely to prove too difficult to shift as people look for a relatively cost effective way of grabbing a slice of the atmosphere. More problematic could be the events at the cavernous Excel. And there must be a nagging fear that the there is a band of mid range tickets – those around £300 that are not the prized blue riband ones that people will want at all costs, nor the relatively cheap ones that will give you a slice of the experience – that will prove most difficult to shift. Somewhat ironically, given the extent to which it dominates media coverage and conversation in this country, football is likely to give organisers the biggest headache. With more than a million tickets to sell to a population who perhaps see the Olympics as an antidote to football’s dominance for the rest of the sporting calendar, just a few weeks after Euro 2012, it is a big ask. Bear in mind too that the Olympics (under 23 with a handful of over age players) is not the pinnacle of achievement as it is for most other sports, while the political issues surrounding the British team appear endlessly intractable. And while 2012 represents a huge opportunity for women’s football in this country if organisers can fill the Ricoh Stadium in Coventry or St James’ Park to see, say the Japanese women’s team take on the Swedes on a night when Team GB is going for gold elsewhere the Locog marketing and ticketing gurus will deserve every one of the plaudits that will flow their way. Locog chief executive Paul Deighton has set a high bar by promising to marry an electric atmosphere with full stands in all venues, while selling out all tickets. It is something that has never been achieved in recent Games. He has the British love of sport and major events of any kind on his side. But our natural cynicism and tendency to wait until the last minute might yet leave him with some nervous moments.

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March 24 2011, 1:28pm | Comments »
I posted to distributedresearch.net

Orbit Tower in progress

http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/21/orbit-tower-in-progress

Orbit Tower (ArcelorMittal Orbit) #2 a photo by George Rex on Flickr. Orbit Tower (ArcelorMittal Orbit) #2 20110302 work-in-progress. The Orbit Tower will be one of the attractions in the London 2012 Olympic Park. There will be two viewing platforms accessible by elevator. Sculptor: Anish Kapoor, Structural Designer: Cecil Balmond. Design and Engineering: Ove Arup. The controversial red tubular steel tower will be 115m tall and completion is due in spring 2012. London Borough of Newham. Image: George Rex Photography) Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogOrbit Tower in progress

Related posts:The Orbit Tower, Olympic Park Stratford East London 2012 London Orbit Tower Rises at Olympic Park Olympics Anish Kapoor tower hopes to attract 1m visitors a year
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March 21 2011, 12:21pm | Comments »
I posted to distributedresearch.net

London Orbit Tower Rises at Olympic Park

http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/20/london-orbit-tower-rises-at-olympic-park

Video show the construction well underway of the Orbit Tower at the London 2012 Olympic Park site in Stratford East London. Click here to view the embedded video. The 115m tall art sculpture with a public viewing platform is formally named the Arcelor Mittal Orbit, and will be 22m higher than New York’s Statue of Liberty when completed, which looks like a matter of weeks as the pr-constructed iron pieces can be seen waiting on the site ready to be welded into place. Further pictures and videos of the growing installation will be uploaded over the coming period. Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogLondon Orbit Tower Rises at Olympic Park

Related posts:The Orbit Tower, Olympic Park Stratford East London 2012 2012 Olympic Park: after the Games Big fire near Stratford, East London Olympic 2012 site
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March 20 2011, 5:26am | Comments »
I posted to distributedresearch.net

2012 Olympic Park: after the Games

http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/17/2012-olympic-park-after-the-games

The man and woman guiding the future of the London 2012 Olympic Park after the Games themselves are over were questioned by the London Assembly yesterday.

This article titled “2012 Olympic Park: after the Games” was written by Dave Hill, for guardian.co.uk on Thursday 17th March 2011 14.27 UTC The Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) is the organisation responsible for making the vast public investment in next summer’s three weeks of sporting endeavour pay off for decades after the medal podiums have been packed away. Its chair is Labour Baroness Margaret Ford of Cunninghame, formerly of government regeneration agency English Partnerships. Its chief executive is Andrew Altman, who used to be Philadelphia’s Deputy Mayor for planning and economic development. Together they took questions from the London Assembly yesterday. Their answers both solidified in my mind’s eye the shape the Olympic Park is intended to take after the Games and showed how much of that shape is still shrouded in mist. The points that interested me most were as follows: One: The OPLC top brass are upbeat. Ford kicked off with a list of big achievements over the past twelve months. One was the rescheduling of £600 million of debt accrued by the London Development Agency – the economic development arm of the London Mayor – in buying up the many small plots of land that now comprise the Olympic Park. Both the present and the previous governments have enabled this. Ford was very grateful: “The original debt schedule had the company starting to pay back that £600 million very, very quickly. We’d have had to just put a for sale sign up and flogged it to the highest bidder. We don’t have to do that now.” She professed delight too with the new park masterplan, unveiled by Boris Johnson and Jeremy Bunt (sic) last autumn. Ford described it as “rooted in family housing,” significantly more (40 percent) of which is now envisaged. She was delighted too by the government earmarking £220 million over the next four years for switching the park from Games mode to post-Games community mode. This sum, she said, will pay for all the necessary infrastructure for “the early stages of developing the entire site: the signage the security the lighting, the children’s playgrounds, the toilets.” She was chuffed too that a preferred anchor tenant – West Ham, in partnership with Newham Council – has been found for the main stadium. Looking ahead, Ford saw finding equivalent occupants of the giant International Broadcast Centre – big enough to hold five jumbo jets – as a major challenge in the coming year. “It’s not going to be one company,” she said. Instead, it will need to be “the right group.” The adjoining Main Press Centre too will need filling once the global army of Games hacks have disappeared. Market testing has been undertaken. Ford was candid about this part of “legacy” being the company’s “most difficult task.” Altman described wanting to have everything required for the post-Games evolution of the Park in place before the Games themselves, including operators for all the sports venues and other attractions, notably the rapidly-forming ArcelorMittal Orbit. Two: It’s not clear how affordable the park’s “affordable housing” will be The new masterplan envisages up to 11,000 homes being built in the park eventually, including about 1,300 already under construction in the athlete’s village. Lib Dem AM Mike Tuffrey was pleased to be reassured by Ford that she still thinks 35 percent of that 11,000 will be “affordable”, though that term can encompass anything from houses or flats for “social rent” to the more expensive “intermediate” variety that provide a toe hold on the London housing ladder. The government is introducing a new “affordable rent” model, which many feel will generate homes for rent that people on low incomes will find far from affordable. When asked by Labour’s Nicky Gavron how many of the park’s “affordable” homes might be for social rent – within the range of households on low incomes – Ford explained that the OPLC was still trying to work through the implications of the new model. To me, these already appear ominous. Bids for the first 800 post-Games homes have recently been invited. Three: Leyton Orient will not find a new home on the park. Ask Owen Gibson. Four: It’s hard to tell how much local people will benefit from new jobs, opportunities and skills Ford told Labour’s John Biggs, one the two AMs who represent the Olympic boroughs that, “Every investment that we make in the park we have to look at through the prism of, how does this help with education, how does this help with jobs, how does it help provide opportunities for local enterprise or social enterprise.” Biggs thinks, rightly, that delivering this community legacy is vital if the Olympic project is to succeed. His Labour colleague Jennette Arnold, the other Olympic boroughs representative, asked if Ford and Altman were committed to creating local employment for the full diversity of local people. Ford said she hoped to “import” the good work done in this field by the Olympic Delivery Authority and said that over the next twenty years the development of the park – in construction, horticulture and so on – should provide “a generation’s work opportunities”. That’s an aspiration to keep an eye on. Five: the park’s attractions won’t immediately be available to the public after the Games Conservative AM Andrew Boff extracted some detail about this. Altman explained that “a huge amount of work” will have to be done before the park can be re-opened after the Games: seats will be removed from the aquatics centre; the main stadium will be transformed; the handball stadium will be converted. Ford said they were chewing over where it is “better to put the fence up round the park, make it secure and safe, get the job done really quickly then open the whole thing up,” or better to cordon off and open up different bits at different times. She was “moving towards” the former option, but no decision had been taken. Either way, she and Altman are thinking summer 2013 “at the earliest,” before “a staggered opening” of venues and attractions starts. You can watch a webcast of the hour-long session here (assembly plenary, 16 March) which is followed by Sir Simon Milton, Boris Johnson’s chief of staff, taking questions about the transformation of the OPLC into a development corporation under mayoral control later this year. Your comments and queries on any aspect of yesterday’s business are very welcome.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.

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Related posts:Olympic Games 2012 medal haul will beat Beijing, promises UK Sport London’s 2012 Olympics must be a ‘regeneration games’ The Orbit Tower, Olympic Park Stratford East London 2012
March 17 2011, 12:15pm | Comments »

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