November 14, 2012 | Posted by Jemma Percy
Tags: active travel, carbon, LOCOG, Olympic Park, stadium, transport, waste
The Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 has published its in-depth review into whether the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games truly delivered the promised levels of sustainability. The post-Games report, entitled London 2012 – From Vision to Reality, presents the final conclusions through key sustainability themes, with information based on first-hand observations and data gathered by the Commission during Games-time. The report concludes that the London 2012 Games broadly delivered against its sustainability objectives, and highlights several examples of leading practice which the Commission urges future Olympic and Paralympic organisers to follow. Using today’s release of its post-Games report, the Commission has called on the UK to lead the charge in ensuring London’s lessons are firmly embedded into the events industry. Ambitious sustainability targets such as zero waste to landfill and 70% waste to be re-used, recycled or composted are on track thanks to efforts such as meticulous attention to packaging and the effective use of the colour coded three-bin system. The transport system delivered an excellent service, and London 2012 should be praised for being the first Games to offer a fully comprehensive mobility service. Comprehensive public transport options and effective planning meant that the logistical operation for …
| Posted by Shaun McCarthy
Tags: active travel, carbon, construction, labour standards, Legacy, LOCOG, transport, waste
I was eight years old when England won the world cup in 1966. I can’t claim to remember the oft repeated commentary from Kenneth Wolstenholme “They think it’s all over – it is now” as Geoff Hurst completed his unique hat-trick to beat West Germany 4-2 in extra time but of course this is now the stuff of legend. Team GB and Paralympics GB made an equally legendary contribution to our sporting heritage. Maybe the choice of a lion as a mascot has something to do with it; Team GB and Paralympics GB had Pride the Lion and in more innocent times in 1966 we had World Cup Willie. They think the London 2012 Olympic Games are all over but from a sustainability point of view this is the end of the beginning. Today sees the release of our report entitled “London 2012 – From vision to reality“. It documents the fantastic effort made by my team to get to practically every Olympic venue with the exception of the football stadia. Not bad for a team of four people in a few short weeks. We also visited live sites, logistics hubs, waste transfer stations and numerous other “back of house” …
August 28, 2012 | Posted by Shaun McCarthy
Tags: active travel, cycle hire scheme, cycling, LOCOG, secure cycle parking, TFL, transport
It was great to see the ODA and LOCOG promoting cycling as a way to get to the Paralympics yesterday. Gold medal winner Joanna Rowsell is helping to promote cycling as a great way to get around. Over the past five years, London has become a much more cycle friendly city with thousands of people enjoying cycling as a cheap, sustainable and healthy way to experience our great city. The addition of the bright “Boris Bikes” means that you don’t even have to own a bike to enjoy this unique pleasure. Cycling gives you the full experience of the city, all the sights, sounds and smells and is the quickest way to travel over short journeys, along with walking. Travelling by car, bus or taxi is like observing the city through a TV screen. The subterranean experience of the Tube does not give you an experience of the city at all but it remains the fastest and most efficient way to travel for longer journeys. London 2012 has made a great effort to promote cycling as a way of getting to the Games as part of the Active Travel programme. A total of 7,200 secure bike parking places have been provided, along with web-based maps …
August 10, 2012 | Posted by Jonathan Turner
Tags: active travel, cycle hire scheme, cycling, secure cycle parking
One of the themes in the run up to these Games has been people looking to London’s hosting of the Olympics and Paralympics to solve many long seated problems within the city or wider UK. In some cases seemingly intractable problems have moved towards solutions but in other areas this is a step too far. I recently cycled round Games-time London to see how feasible and popular this was, particularly in light of a recent tragic incident. I’m a fairly keen cyclist but have never cycled in central London before so this seemed a good test. Having had problems activating my key and using a credit card for the cycle hire scheme, I borrowed a colleague’s bike and took to the road. The roads were busy as expected and I needed my wits about me to negotiate the complex web of obstacles and road provision for cyclists. There are cycle paths and super highways, albeit frequently blocked by delivery vehicles (even official Games suppliers!), and numerous buses, private hire vehicles and cars to contend with. I did learn a new “trick” from one vehicle – you pull up on a double yellow line, open your bonnet as if you have …
December 1, 2011 | Posted by Jemma Percy
Tags: active travel, TFL, transport
The London 2012 Active Travel Programme was launched by LOCOG in October 2011. The Commission is pleased to see a comprehensive set of walking and cycling routes available for Londoners and visitors to use in the lead up to Games-time, during the Games and after the Games are over. We are satisfied that there are adequate plans for bike parking at the Olympic Park and that all reasonable efforts have been made to enable people to reach venues by walking and cycling wherever possible. The London 2012 Active Travel website adequately signposts people to other information sources including a map of private bike hire venues and to the Transport for London Active Travel website. The Commission has previously noted that spectators travelling to the Games will be allocated free public transport and that this principle should be extended to spectators wishing to hire cycles.[i] We have now been advised that this would be logistically very costly and therefore is not a practical solution. However, we note that the Mayor’s cycle hire scheme is already free of charge for the first 30 minutes, after an initial fee is paid for access to the scheme of £1 per day. We understand that the majority of casual users …
