August 28, 2009 | Posted by Shaun McCarthy
Imagine the proud athlete standing on the podium receiving a gold medal in the London Olympic Stadium. The tearful pride during the national anthem brings a lump to the throat of hundreds of millions of TV viewers around the world. As a sustainability nut, the lump in my throat will be for a different reason. My thoughts would be “I wonder what happens to the podium after the games? Where does it go? Where did the flowers come from? Were they from a water-stressed region of the world? Were they grown by people employed under decent conditions? Maybe they are not flowers at all but something that looks like flowers made from recycled paper?” (a serious suggestion made by the London Wildlife Trust). Waste is a massive subject for London 2012 and the indicators to date are really good. The ODA has achieved a ground-breaking performance during the demolition and remediation stage of the project, comfortably exceeding the 90% target for waste diverted from landfill. The construction stage is looking good too, the 90% target set by waste partner Veolia beats the previous best practice for Heathrow Terminal 5 and after a difficult start on site, this objective looks set
…
August 21, 2009 | Posted by Shaun McCarthy
The National Sailing Academy in Weymouth did us the great honour of hosting a commission meeting in July 2009. Despite the Australian jibe that the Poms are only any good at sports that involve sitting down, we should be justifiably proud of our equestrian sports people, our rowers, cyclists and sailors. The sailing venue is finished and being used now. It is a brilliant venue, using the natural sweep of the bay surrounded by world heritage Jurassic coastline as a perfect competition space and natural amphitheatre. From a sustainability point of view, the venue has a great story to tell.
…
