INTERVIEW
remove the temporary venues while the permanent venues will be transformed for long-term use and the north and south hubs created. The north park will house the VeloPark road cycle circuit, the Velo- drome, the BMX track and mountain bike trails, while the south will play host to sports and cultural events in and around the Olympic Stadium and the Aquat- ics Centre. New bridges and roads will be added to increase ease of access and cafés, guest relations, ticketing facilities, toilets and play areas will also appear. Suitable tenants are essential for the
smooth operation of the permanent ven- ues and the OPLC’s tenant procurement process has already started. The Olympic Stadium was the first
venue to go through this process and West Ham FC and the London Borough of Newham were recently chosen above Tottenham Hotspur as the OPLC board’s preferred bidder for tenancy. This recom- mendation has now been backed by the Mayor’s office and the government. How- ever, choosing football over an athletics tenant has been a controversial issue. “We inherited a planning consent to
convert the stadium into a 25,000 ca- pacity athletics stadium and wanted to enhance that and so wanted to test the market,” says Ross. The criteria set for tenancy included the
ability to achieve a long-term, deliverable, value for money solution that enabled the stadium to open as quickly as pos- sible after the Games, while remaining a distinctive, iconic symbol that could ac- commodate a programme of events that allowed year-round access for schools, the local community and elite sport. “The preferred bidder had to com-
ply with these criteria and we came to a collective and unanimous view that West Ham and the London Borough of Newham were our preferred bidder. It was a very robust, fair and transparent process,” says Ross. The OPLC has since launched an ex-
pressions of interest (EOI) process for the operation of the 114m-tall, £23m Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond de- signed sculpture that is currently being constructed by Sir Robert McAlpine between the stadium and the Aquatics
An artist’s impression of the OPLC’s vision for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park post-2012
Centre. When completed, the Arcelor- Mittal Orbit will have two observation floors, giving visitors an amazing view across the London skyline. “We’re looking for a best in class opera-
tor to run the venue during and after the Games on our behalf,” Ross explains. “It would probably be a 10-year tenure, so we’re looking for some fit out cost to be injected into the project but we also want the operator to have some say in what the specification might be so it could be tai- lored to their requirements,” he says. A similar tenure is also being sought for
the Multi-Use Arena; London’s third larg- est arena where seats can be retracted to extend the field of play, and the Aquat- ics Centre – once the temporary seating wings are taken down after the Games. Rumoured as a possible home for a
new London-based basketball team, Ross says the Multi-Use Arena “does what it says on the tin”. “It’s set up for sports, it’s got a beautiful sprung floor, and good seating capacity with great sight lines as well as easy access for equipment. It could easily be used for sports events, cultural festivals, concerts or conferences.” Regarding a suitable Aquatics Centre
tenant, Ross says the legacy company is looking for a national or international
We need to build momentum and excitement around this project to extend the Olympic halo effect for as long as possible
20 Read Sports Management online
sportsmanagement.co.uk/digital
operator who’s got the necessary expe- rience of running and programming a centre that features two 50m pools and a diving pool, which could [by OPLC cal- culation] attract up to 800,000 visitors a year. “Programming is the important issue here,” he says. “The operator must understand how best to include first- time swimmers through to local, regional and national Olympic swimming oppor- tunities into the facility programme.” Other available contracts within the
park that are now open to interested parties include park maintenance, park services and security services.
Embracing the Olympic halo effect According to Ross the park will be closed for a certain time period after the Games, which will be frustrating for some people. “We’ve got to get it right and launch the park to best effect,” he says. “It would be great to open it in the spring of 2013 but the worst thing is to set ourselves an impossible time line and not deliver. It’s better to under promise and over deliver – that’s our goal. “You have to remember that once the
London Games are finished and the park becomes known as the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, by then the focus will have turned to Brazil. So we need to build momentum and excitement around this project to extend the halo effect for as long as possible”. ● Visit: www.legacycompany
.co.uk Issue 1 2011 © cybertrek 2011
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