Ladies' Guild Meeting - October 2009
The Olympic Games and Paralympic games are coming in 2012, we all hear about it through the media but when confronted with how it is happening it becomes a whole new concept. We had a very unusual style of talk for the Ladies' Guild, as our speaker was Lee Taylor, the supply chain manager for the Olympic Delivery Authority. More relevant for us is that he is Olive's son-in-law; he made us aware that he had to do well for that reason.
Lee showed us slides of the area in Stratford before the work started. It looked like a giant scrap yard with brick rubble and crushed cars. This was the part of east London where the rubble was dumped after the second world war, the picture was grim with Canary Wharf standing out on the other side of the river; two reflections of a capital city. The plan had been to develop this area in 2020 but the awarding of the games to Britain expedited things. First the contracts available had to be made public, and then awarded, then the sites handed over to the builders. The Ministry of Justice construction department employs Lee but by the end of his talk I felt he is more like an Olympic Project Enabler. The existing properties were demolished after new premises were found; many companies did well with new buildings. The work started, first built were two giant tunnels to carry all the services so that all the poles and more than 70 pylons could be dismantled. We saw a shot of a half dismantled pylon with the appearance of vultures on a tree: it was really men harnessed on while they worked to dismantle the superstructure. Eleven bridges and underpasses were built, the River Lea organised to suit, then the start of the venues: the huge stadium, aquarium, velodrome (christened 'The Pringle' because of the shape of the roof), 11 accommodation blocks for the athletes' village, media centre, bus and train stations (7 minutes from Kings Cross to the Olympics) and shopping complex. They are building a super city, which will be changed and reused for the people in the area after the events. Who would not like to live in landscaped parkland with 5,000 trees (purchased in France and Belgium as we do not grow enough in the UK), covered walks and pathways? It will be exciting, modern, beautiful and rewarding to all who built it as well as to the athletes and spectators.
We, the taxpayer, pay the cost of this work. Sebastian Coe and his team are a company to be financed from sponsorship and ticket sales. All payments from the Beijing bus, photo ID, fences (10 km), transport, security personnel, weather forecasts and sports equipment, up to the removal of some of the 5,000 seats in the stadium and wings from the aquadrome after the event, are on budget. All the items removed will be used elsewhere in the UK; there will no longer be need for such capacity after the games. The recession has held costs down in part. New technology comes along and changes things. The area will be ready by 2011 for trial uses. The site also has provision for hockey, tennis, basketball, handball, BMX sport and fencing. Venues for football, water sports and specialised events will be around the UK. Teams from all over the world will spend time in designated cities for their acclimatisation and preparation.
Every aspect of the work is as green as possible, huge ground cleaning machines dig, delve, wash and clean soil and discover trophies like the two second world war bombs that they found. Most rubble is used for construction work. Half the materials are delivered by rail or water to reduce carbon emissions. What a task our Olympic Enabler has. It must also be one of great variety. He recently gave a talk to 20 registered blind people with dogs; he found it an enriching experience, all part of the work but so different.