By Anna Surgenor, Senior Technical Advisor at the UK Green Building Council
On 6th July 2005 Trafalgar Square was transformed into a sea of ticker tape, Union Jacks and jubilant crowds as London was announced as the host city of the 2012 Olympic Games. Whilst winning the bid marked a momentous occasion for London and the UK, particularly with regards to sport and culture, construction firms then faced the arguably bigger challenge of delivering the Games’ venues within the Olympic Delivery Authority’s (ODA) Sustainable Development Strategy. It’s fair to say that the strategy, which was built upon London’s aim to host the “greenest games ever” and a framework of other commitments made prior to the successful bid, was ambitious – in true British style, it was developed with the view that this aspirational plan would never have to be put into action.
Fast forward six years, and the UK Green Building Council was appointed as the ‘Learning Legacy Partner’ for sustainability for the ODA. As part of this role, we ran a series of 15 events during 2011 and 2012 aimed at facilitating greater understanding of sustainability issues amongst the business community, by enabling professionals and businesses to transfer and embed the lessons learned from the London 2012 Olympic Games into their own work. During 2011 and 2012, more than 1,000 delegates attended our debates and masterclasses, which featured over 100 people who worked on integrating sustainability solutions into their various Olympic projects.
Sustainability objectives
So what sustainability lessons have we learned from London 2012? Firstly, leadership by the client is key, such as setting and adhering to clear targets. The Games were largely successful in meeting sustainability objectives such achieving 100% sustainably sourced timber as defined by CPET and over 90% of construction waste was reused or recycled.
Early engagement was found to be essential in achieving the highest standards of sustainability. Carillion, the contractor on the International Broadcast Centre/Main Press Centre, highlighted how it was successful in procuring the greenest concrete on the Olympic Park for the superstructure with 100% recycled aggregate and 30% recycled cement replacement due to being brought on board early in the process. As a result embodied C02 was reduced by 25% compared with conventional concrete.
Companies shouldn’t be afraid to innovate. Challenging targets over a fixed timescale provide the perfect opportunity to do so. For example, the ODA’s adoption of a challenging policy on the use of PVC in the Olympic Park stimulated the supply chain to innovate a non-phthalate PVC. Whilst this was used in many venue wraps, it also provided industry feedback on alternative engineering solutions with long-term environmental benefits.
A team game
Strong teamwork and proactive communications were also emphasised as key lessons learned. An ODA initiative to design a pin badge for workers who championed sustainability on the Olympics site helped to inspire and reward team members.
Building on the culture of strong teamwork and through its work on the Olympic Park, BAM Nuttall has taken forward an initiative called Beyond Zero which focuses on eliminating harm to people and the environment. It looks at genuinely caring for colleagues, setting performance standards that are exceptional and showing the utmost respect for people and the planet. BAM Nuttall is also continuing to champion the sustainability lessons learned through their role in transforming the London 2012 site into the post-Games Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, one of the largest construction projects in Europe. Measures include developing careers for local residents, partnerships with the local residents through the REDS10 construction apprenticeship organisation and getting more women and disabled people into construction.
Value of lessons learned
As attendees of our London 2012 masterclasses, Heathrow recognised the value of the lessons learned format and the importance of leadership by client, and approached UK-GBC to help deliver a similar set of education courses to their supply chain. The series, which will be delivered to Heathrow staff, its tier one contractors and the wider supply chain over the next 12 months, will consist of six sessions examining areas such as sustainable materials, waste and project legacy. By delivering this series of events to a multidisciplinary audience, Heathrow hopes to use education as a key tool for embedding sustainability across its capital projects, sharing best practice across the supply chain and ensuring industry lessons learned are disseminated.
Although not directly involved in the Games, Marks & Spencer also attended UK-GBC’s London 2012 lessons learned events and made regular visits to the Olympic Park during construction to ensure it captured as many lessons for its own strategy and development. One example of transferring these lessons led to the development of its new Cheshire Oaks eco store. The shop became the first retail store to have a roof made from 100% FSC-certified glulam, a type of engineered softwood timber, with far less embodied carbon than steel or concrete.
UK-GBC itself has also used the lessons from London 2012 to shape its own activities. The design of its Green Building Series educational programme strongly reflects the lessons learned approach by encouraging our members to share the findings from their own projects spanning the entire building lifecycle. Our work with WRAP to develop an embodied carbon database emerged directly from the lack of an embodied carbon target at the Games. This also led to the London Legacy Development Corporation, the not-for-profit organisation responsible for the Olympic Park and its facilities after the Games, setting a target to reduce embodied carbon by 15%, and Barangaroo, a Sydney-based Lend Lease project, also setting a target following their work on the London 2012 Athletes Village.
Sharing is key
We need to ensure our industry is continually learning and adopting new ways of delivering better buildings for both people and the planet. And a key way of doing this is by sharing lessons and experiences, both good and bad. As we look back fondly on last summer and take stock of the progress we have made since, it’s clear to see that the Olympic spirit of raising the bar in sustainability is already being incorporated into construction and property firms’ organisational strategies and projects. I look forward to seeing how these lessons and experiences will be translated and built upon at the next Olympics in Rio in three years time.
