Vox pop

Should LOCOG relax the no marketing rights protocol for construction firms?

Peter Gracia

Director, Gracia Consult The stranglehold on publicity extends well beyond firms on site. I’ve

Mo Morgan Marketing manager, Lakesmere

Specialist contractors are further down the food chain than corporate sponsors and feel closed out of the process, so it

been involved in a large refurbishment would be good to relax the restrictions. project on a Victorian town hall in south Wales, on the planned route of the Olympic torch, and we’ve been forced to blank out any wording on hoardings round the building that might be construed as marketing. Not only does this have a negative impact, it also has a cost not accounted for in the Olympic budget. It’s a deprived area of Wales where public services are being cut to the bone, yet the authorities will have spent large

amounts of money blanking out signs. The torch route has been designed

to pass by the premises of the event’s corporate sponsors, rather than places of local interest. So what should be a huge public event has effectively been bought out by a few corporations.

Saul Townsend Press manager, Chartered Institute of Building The marketing protocol needs to be relaxed as many firms have missed out on a chance to showcase their work. The CIOB worked with the ODA on the Lessons Learned project to spread best practice on the Olympic site. But restrictions were so tight that some of those asked to speak could not mention who they worked for unless their employer was a sponsor or an ODA ambassador. It’s a matter of common sense that

people don’t exploit the Olympics by using the logo on their shirts and so on. They just want to take credit for their part in a fantastic project.

Coalition failing SMEs, says survey Eddie Monk

I was a self-employed surveyor working for Brent council between 2004 and 2008. There were a few consultants who were small, local and very good and offered advice for “no charge”. It was decided to go to tender again, allowing new consultants to tender. All our original consultants were rejected on the grounds that they were too small. Assistance from the new

Gill Parker Joint Managing Director, BDG Architects With the economy so weak the Olympics is a great story for British construction and design that isn’t being allowed to be told. LOCOG shouldn’t be nervous of negative media coverage; it should be confident the Games has been delivered on time and on budget with many examples of best practice. The Olympics is a massive event and sponsors will always get the lion’s share of the publicity, so penalising others seems unnecessary.

Oliver Bray Partner, Reynolds Porter Chamberlain The protocol is in place for good reason: the International Olympic Committee requires protective legislation when awarding licences to nations to host the Games and to protect sponsors whose money is essential for their operation. While the restrictions on the ability of

surveyors, whose charges were £65 an hour, was often not good. A senior person was £105 an hour.

Claire Eddie’s experiences are all-too-familiar, working for local authorities I have experienced similar tactics. Partnering is the way many are going, which completely cuts out any smaller contractors who have relied on this work for many years.

The Aquatics Centre would have been a great project for us to showcase our engineering and design skill but the confidentiality agreement prevented it. All media queries have to be directed through our client, Balfour Beatty, which consults the ODA. We can talk about the Olympics with clients when tendering for work, but by tendering stage it is already late in the process and publicity would be better directed at generating new enquiries.

“The Olympics is a great story for British construction and design that isn’t being allowed to be told” Gill Parker, BDG Architects

organisations to associate themselves with the Games are strict, the idea of LOCOG relaxing the guidance would send mixed signals and encourage the type of ambush marketing that they want to prevent. The chances of LOCOG allowing a chink in their protective armour at this stage must be remote, not least for the risk of opening the floodgates to unauthorised Games association at the time they least need it.

Mike Smith

CIOB CBC chair, managing director Corniche Builders Unless there’s a threat

to national security, it is churlish to stop a firm using its involvement with a project to market itself. Most of the public do not know who is doing what at the Olympic site and a bit of self- congratulation is good for a firm and its operatives’ morale in today’s zero- margin climate. Politicians will be sure to take credit for our achievements if we don’t. Excluding smaller companies [from publicity] also goes against the current policy of promoting SMEs and attracting apprentices/trainees into the industry. Let’s use this brilliant example of the industry to kick start that process.

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CONSTRUCTION MANAGER | APRIL 2012 | 11