Olympic Games London 2012: When the client strives for innovation (The London model)

Abstract

On July 2006, when London won the fight to stage the 2012 Summer Olympics, the Olympic Deliver Authority (ODA) and its Delivery Partner (CLM) were pledged to deliver the "Greenest Games" ever. They managed to deliver the construction project on time, within budget, with zero fatalities and high sustainability outcomes, striving to procure innovative products and solutions from the rest of the supply chain. The outcome of their effort, which was evaluated not only in relation to the conduction of the Games, but also to the urban regeneration of various deprived neighbourhouds and the planning of the future use of the venues, was considered succesful and provided them with great industry awards.

The rewarding aftereffect of the construction management programme was combined with the effort of documenting critical paths of the process (learning legacy), so that future mega projects or other Olympic Games could take advantage of an existing succesful 'London model' and evolve their construction process. Various aspects of the 'London model' will be analysed in this wiki article in respect to the programme management process followed by ODA.

Context

On July 2005, the city of London won a two-way fight against Paris to gain the right to stage the 2012 Summer Olympics, even if ‘Paris has been the favorite throughout the campaign’ [4]. The critical change in the trend took place after an impressive presentation by Lord Coe, the bid chairman, who emphasized the cornerstone of the bid for the conduction of the Olympic Games, namely the plans to make this the most sustainable Olympic Games on record and leave a lasting legacy. [4] The momentous day of undertaking the Olympic Games of 2012 simultaneously set a seven year countdown clock ticking for the greatest show on Earth. Following the award of the Olympic Games, the British government immediately created a new publicly funded body, which was established by an act of Parliament in April 2006 [1] and was responsible to bring the whole construction project into reality and to hand it over to the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), the private sector organization responsible for staging the Games. More specifically, the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), as the name of this body was, had not only to plan and deliver a programme constituted out of 70 individual projects, translated in more than 120 principal contracts, but also to encompass the sustainability objectives and to envision the legacy of the Games. The ODA philosophy may be summarized under the quote: ‘Design for Legacy and Adapt for the Games’ [1].

The initial cost estimation by the British government was £2.4 billion for the whole construction programme. However, after revising different aspects of the programme and carefully planning the process, the ODA budget was set at £8.1 billion in 2007, including approximately £2 billion of contingency. After the initial staffing of the key positions, ODA decided directly to employ a Delivery Partner, CLM, a private sector consortium comprising a partnership from the three parent companies of CH2M Hill, Laing O’Rourke and Mace [1]. Furthermore, ODA had to confront with the major regeneration of a completely derelict and polluted site in Stratford, east London, which was chosen both for the proximity to the city centre of London, but also as an area of deprived neighbourhoods that was about to be developed, not only for the Games, but also for the future.

The efficient collaboration and management skills of both ODA and CLM led to delivering the venues and infrastructure programme on time, within budget and with zero fatalities, but also with several sustainability outcomes, like reduced emissions of greenhouse gases, reduced total waste, recycling during construction, as well as minimised impact of the Games on local flora and fauna [4]. During this process, ODA used procedures to ‘overcome the traditional barriers against using innovative solutions by creating the culture and conditions to embrace creativity and innovation from the supply chain’.

The final cost of £6.8 billion was well within the estimation of 2007 and the programme was completed in July 2011, 13 months before the games started on 27th July 2012, providing LOCOG with sufficient time to check the venues and infrastructure for compliance with the main guidelines, as well as to prepare themselves for the conduction of the Games [5]. Additionally, as the planning and management process was considered successful even before the delivery of the venues and won various industrial awards for excellence, the need to create a documentation for replicability in future projects and programmes arose. Following that, ODA decided to create a series of Learning Legacy documents serving this scope and simultaneously contributing in government’s vision of leaving a legacy after the Games.