At EIBTM 2012, we were delighted to have Shaun McCarthy, Chair, Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 who shared some case study examples of sustainability in practice at the London 2012 Olympic Games. A great opportunity to learn about sustainability in action, and its legacy at a major, international event.

1. www.cslondon.org
Welcome

2. In July 2005 London won the right to stage the 2012 Olympics, beating the
French into second position (Hah!)
At that time Heathrow Terminal 5 was the biggest construction project in
Europe. With a budget of £4.2Bn the project aimed to transform a disused
sewage works into the biggest single airport building in Europe. It is bigger
July 2005 underground than above ground and if it was an airport on its own it would be
the second busiest in the UK and seventh busiest in Europe

3. By the time Terminal 5 opened in 2008 the biggest construction project in Europe was
the London Olympic Park. With a budget of £9.5Bn it aimed to transform a derelict
and polluted site in one of the poorest areas in Europe into Europe’s biggest new
urban green space for 200 years, great sports venues, the most sustainable major
housing development ever seen in the UK, all of this acting as a catalyst for the
regeneration of the East End. This is a bold regeneration project interrupted by a few
April 2008 weeks of sport.
I oversaw the sustainability performance of both projects.
Terminal 5 had an advisory group called EAG. This group helped to set the sustainability objectives and was disbanded. Some objectives
were well achieved but some were quietly dropped. When I started advising the Mayor’s office on the Olympics I was determined that
this would be different. I wanted an independent body with a great team of people to constantly scrutinise the project and hold the
delivery bodies to account for their performance. Nothing would be “quietly dropped” on this project.

4. A new model for assurance
'We have set ourselves two very challenging
aims - to stage not only the greatest Games
ever but, as importantly, those Games in
2012 must be the most sustainable in the
history of the modern Olympics. This
overriding principle has been built into our
plans from the word go and I am confident
that with Shaun McCarthy’s expert leadership
and this team he has recruited we will set
the sustainability standards that will becom
Former Mayor the benchmark for the hosting of all future
Ken Livingstone Olympic and Paralympic Games.'
15 May 2007

5. 3
questions most people ask about London 2012?

6. Can you get me some tickets?
NO…

7. Is it really like the Twenty Twelve programme on TV?
(This is a spoof TV programme on the BBC)
YES

8. 2012 Olympics

10. CSL’s Purpose…
To provide independent assurance and
commentary in order to enable the sustainability
objectives of the London 2012 programme to be
achieved and to support a sustainable legacy.

11. How we operate…
Olympic Board
UK SDC
LSDC
ODA
Gov. Depts.
LOCOG
Host
GLA Group
Boroughs
GOE / DCMS
Statutory
Bodies
BOA / BPA
Professional
Institutes
Chair Officers
NGOs
Core Commission
Co-opted
experts

12. Towards sustainable construction
Our vision
London 2012 delivers
exemplary performance
and can demonstrate
that it has set new
standards for the
construction industry

13. Achievements & challenges
Objective Target Performance
Carbon reduction in the operation 50% 47.7% onsite
of the built environment in legacy 58.6% including offsite
measures
Renewable energy 20% 10.8%
Recycled content (by value) 20% 34%
Recycled aggregate (by weight) 25% >40% [DN: Close out report
says 48% but may go down
during transformation]
Reduction in potable water 40% 58%
Timber from sustainable sources 100% 100%
BREEAM excellent ratings for new 100% 3 excellent, 3 on target for
permanent venues excellent in legacy, 1 very
good.
Demolition waste reused or 90% 98.5%
recycled
Construction waste reused, 90% 99%
recycled or recovered
Habitat creation 45 hectares 24.9 hectares at Games-time
45 hectares in legacy
Bird and bat nest or roosting boxes 675 381 before to the Games,
rising to 701 in legacy
Move construction materials by 50% 67% prior to Games
Rail/Water
Olympic Village Code for Level 4 Level 4 (subject to
Sustainable Homes successful post Games
conversion)
Health and Safety on site Zero fatalities Zero fatalities
Local (Host Borough) workforce 15% 18%
Workforce that was previously 7% 10%
unemployed

14. Towards sustainable infrastructure
Our vision
London 2012 delivers
sustainable
infrastructure that acts
as a catalyst for
sustainable development
in East London

15. Achievements & challenges
CCHP for park, village and
shopping mall
Black water recycling
Non potable water
Green space
Natural water attenuation
Fuel source for energy
Wind turbine cancelled

16. Before the ODA even started to design the Olympic Park they made very clear rules about
sustainability. They were launched in a meeting with the Prime Minister in January 2007, I was there.
Examples are; buildings at least 15% better energy efficiency than the building regulations, 90% waste
diverted from landfill, 25% secondary materials, 25% of the workforce local, 10% local and unemployed
for more than 6 months.
The velodrome was £40M over budget and the designers wanted a relaxation of the sustainability
rules. The ODA said no and forced them to innovate. This led to a much lighter cable net supported
roof, half the materials of the Beijing velodrome, less concrete in the ground to support the materials
etc. On budget, on time and the most sustainable building on the Park; 30% better energy efficiency,
37% recycled content, natural light, natural ventilation, awesome!
Set the rules, don’t compromise, drive your resources to innovate

17. Towards sustainable events
Our vision
London 2012 delivers
the most sustainable
Games to date in terms
of delivery, visible
achievement and long
term influence on the
event management
industry

18. Achievements & challenges
Zero waste to landfill
Sustainable food
Sustainable sourcing code
Diversity & inclusion
business charter
Mobility services
Energy conservation
Logistics
Materials
Transport
Sponsorship
Ethical supply chains

19. Integrated energy strategy – 50% less carbon
Efficiency Energy management
There is an integrated energy strategy:
•Design out consumption. Permanent buildings only if there was an identified
legacy use. Otherwise buildings were temporary. All buildings required to deliver
exemplary energy efficiency
•Monitoring and targeting. This is an online tool from EDF that shows half hourly
data for all venues. The energy team used data like this to drive down
consumption but they started too late and could have done much more
•Infrastructure. CHP and non-potable water infrastructure providing low carbon
energy and water efficient solutions to the park. The whole system is designed for
5 times its current capacity to support growth of this new piece of city in legacy
Infrastructure

20. Food, waste and recycling.
Food vision: fresh, local,
organic, sustainable.

23. Low carbon AND inspirational

24. Corporate event…?
The picture on the left shows the Olympic Stadium and the funky recycled flooring on the main concourse. Both were supplied by Dow
Chemical of the USA. We received a significant backlash from protestors who are convinced that Dow are responsible for the Bhopal
disaster and for under-compensating the victims. Dow deny this. I received personal threats, my staff had abusive calls and one of my
commissioners resigned over this. This is heavy shit!
The picture on the right is the London 2012 megastore where you can find every type of useless tat with a London 2012 logo on it. Despite
LOCOG’s efforts to follow best practice (describe if sufficient time) the Playfair Alliance put undercover workers into 2 factories in China
and found breaches of all ten principles of the Ethical Trade Initiative Base Code.
The IOC and other major governing bodies (e.g. FIFA, UEFA etc.) have a responsibility to deal with this issue instead of just going from
event to event and taking the money. This is a serious issue that one organising committee is powerless to resolve alone.

25. Towards sustainable communities
Our vision
London 2012 delivers a
programme of work that
inspires healthy living,
environmental, social
and economic
sustainability before,
during and after the
Games

26. Will there be a legacy?

27. Making a difference
Our vision
UK achieves a step
change in sustainability
as a result of the legacy
of knowledge from
London 2012 and
supports greater exports
of sustainability
technology and green
jobs

28. An example of legacy
www.supplychainschool.co.uk

29. Critical success factors

30. The shower and the glory?
So, is the Velodrome my favourite
building? No.
This unsung hero is the membrane
bio-reactor. The Olympic Park has
one of London’s main sewers
running alongside it, anybody
walking from the Games to West
Ham station may have got a whiff
of it. This wonderful building
contains a machine that takes
sewage from the pipe and uses
bacteria to turn poo into fresh
water.
The fresh water is used for irrigation but is also used as feedstock for the district heating system which in turn is heated from waste heat
from electricity generation in the combined heat and power plant on the park. The homes in the Olympic village have no boilers, they are
supplied by this system which provides a source of cheap and sustainable heating and hot water 24 hours per day.
If you are a Londoner you can just imagine that your poo could have contributed in a small way to Usain Bolt’s hot shower.

31. Sustainable…?
“ We want our One Planet Olympics to
be the most complete and sophisticated
expression of sustainable development
ever delivered on a city-wide scale. We
want it to benefit not just London and
the UK, but to be a credit to the Olympic
Movement as a whole.”
Lord Coe, Environment Forum, 7 March 2005

32. “We have always maintained that, taken in
isolation, delivering and Olympic and
Paralympic Games is an inherently un-
sustainable thing to do. We therefore
cannot call the programme truly
sustainable unless the inspirational power
of the Games can be used to make a
tangible, far reaching difference”
• CSL annual review 2010
We believe that we can only call our Games sustainable if we can inspire a generation to more sustainable behaviour.
I hope I have inspired you a little today.

33. We believe that we can only call our Games sustainable if
we can inspire a generation to more sustainable behaviour.
I hope I have inspired you a little today.

34. www.cslondon.org
Shaun McCarthy
shaun.mccarthy@cslondon.org Thank you
020 7593 8664