UKVMA

MAJOR EVENTS: London 2012 – securing the Olympic Legacy

Has the Olympic dream lost its fire? Improving the life chances of local people in east London played an important role in London’s winning 2012 Olympic bid. Five years on from London 2012 there is a mixed picture of progress. The 2012 Games provided an initial focus for new investment, but it was short lived. While education and employment have improved, the gap in other quality of life indicators between the host boroughs and the rest of London hasn’t been closed.

The prospects of people living in the Olympic host boroughs (Barking & Dagenham, Greenwich, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest), were meant to improve, to ‘converge’, with the London average over a 20 year period.

The London Assembly Regeneration Committee investigation into convergence found:

The earnings gap in 2015 is greater than it was in 2009.
The gap in physical activity and sports participation has worsened.
Tower Hamlets, Barking and Dagenham, Hackney and Newham have some of the highest proportions of children living in income deprived households in the country.

The report ‘Relighting the torch: securing the Olympic legacy’, makes recommendations to the Mayor of London and the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC):

The Mayor should commission research on factors affecting convergence and look at the effects of people moving in and out of the area.
To keep momentum going, the Mayor needs to include convergence in the new London Plan, the upcoming Economic Development Strategy, and his final Health Inequalities Strategy.
The LLDC should revise its local plans to take into account areas beyond the boundaries of the Olympic Park to ensure the legacy of the 2012 Games is secured.

Photo of London 2012 Olympics velodrome in construction

London 2012 promised its host boroughs an Olympic legacy

Navin Shah AM, Chair of the Regeneration Committee, said:

The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games promised a legacy of improved prospects for people in the host boroughs. In the long term, the life chances of local communities were meant to come closer to the average for London.

Five years on, we have seen some improvements, but the performance has been patchy. Shockingly, the gap in physical activity and sports participation has widened. It really is unclear whether local people are truly benefiting from the Games.

What we can say is that the Olympic Park has truly transformed the area as a place to live and to do business. More and more investment is coming to this area, but there is a real risk that local people are missing out on opportunities, in terms of housing and jobs. The Mayor of London is uniquely placed to ensure local people aren’t side-lined. He needs to take ownership by reigniting the Olympic torch and making sure the Olympic legacy is fully secured.

New ideas for major event venues [ARTICLE]

Personalised experiences, neighbourhood ‘live sites’ and off-the-shelf venues will help create more inclusive, cost-effective major event venues predicts Arup. Immersive ‘live sites’ where spectators can get closer to the action and flexible, temporary venues are the key to delivering more efficient and engaging sporting events predicts Arup. With Paris and Los Angeles announced as hosts for the 2024 and 2028 Olympic Games, attention is on how cities can cost-effectively deliver successful events, which are as inclusive as possible and deliver a lasting legacy for communities.

Design, engineering and consulting firm, Arup has been involved in some of the best-known sporting destinations, from the Singapore Sports Hub, through to the Bird’s Nest Stadium and Water Cube in Beijing and many of the venues and long-terms plans for London 2012 and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Arup’s Cities Alive: Rethinking Legacy for Host Cities report gathers fresh thinking from around the world to outline tactics which will help cities increase community engagement and maximise investment in major events.

Closer to the action through virtual reality and live sites

The London 2012 Live Sites generated real excitement and enabled more people to get into the spirit of the Games. Advances in hand-held technology, virtual reality and streaming media will enable spectators to tune into any number of live sports, get guided tours of venues or experience being at the virtual trackside with their favourite athletes. Formula-e Motor Racing is a great example, with the use of 360-degree cameras, live streaming of races, almost instant highlights and even the opportunity for fans to ‘vote’ to give their favourite drivers an additional boost of power.

Flexible, temporary venues

Arup predicts that most major event venues will be temporary in the future, allowing land to be swiftly released for redevelopment after the Games. More affordable – off-the-shelf or pre-engineered sporting venues will significantly reduce cost. The report also highlights that reduced venue capacities can bring significant savings, with smaller facilities resulting in fuller capacities and a better atmosphere for fans.

An exterior view of the temporary Waterpolo venue on the London 2012 Olympic Park

New financial models

Cities are cautious about bidding for major sporting events, with Boston, Hamburg, Rome and Budapest pulling out of the running for the Olympics and Los Angeles seeking an advance from the International Olympic Committee. New ‘value’ focussed financial models are emerging, which should be encouraged. Investment in regeneration can drive huge increases in surrounding land values. This model would see a percentage of this increased land value returned and put towards the cost of infrastructure. Another approach is tax increment financing (TIFs), which diverts future property tax revenues towards upfront infrastructure investment.

Headlines about the cost of major events focus on the overall figure but, planned well, much of the investment can be in transformational city infrastructure and regeneration which may well have been needed anyway. This cost could be taken off the balance sheet, to reveal a ‘true cost of hosting’ which focuses specifically on the venues, security, marketing and other direct costs.

The socio-economic value of community engagement, neighbourhood investment and increased mobility is rarely incorporated in cost-benefit modelling of event planning. Yet the boost to the economy derived from increased social mobility and long-term employment can significantly outweigh many upfront costs if event planning is led by such outcomes.

Streamlined transport

The greatest single risk to the successful legacy of a major event is the potential disruption it can bring to the daily life of a host city. A combination of new technologies, greater use of data and more effective management will reduce cost, improve experiences for residents and visitors and strengthen the long-term resilience of host cities. Examples include the idea of ‘logistics hubs’ outside city centres, where deliveries can be consolidated so that they minimise the number of trips required, reduce emissions and congestion and load packages onto smaller, electric vehicles. London 2012 also saw the adoption of a highly efficient multimodal ‘transport coordination centre’, as well as greater use of travel planning apps. Arup expects most host cities to explore ways of using predictive modelling tools, data analysis, mobile apps and live updates to deliver smooth running transport and logistics.

Creating a resilient legacy

The report urges cities to see the Games as a catalyst to help them tackle the major challenges they are facing – such as rising air pollution; energy shortages; housing shortages and an increasing number of extreme weather events. Rather than focusing on event related sustainability outcomes, such as reducing energy use during sporting events – the report recommends it is used as an opportunity to scale up and accelerate ambitions having a long-term impact. For example, this could involve helping cities establish their own localised energy, cooling and water systems.

Jerome Frost, Global Planning & Cities Leader at Arup and former Head of Design & Regeneration at the London 2012 Olympic Delivery Authority says, “Using technology to personalise and increase access to events; developing smaller, temporary venues and placing value-based, socio-economic and city resilience outcomes at the centre of event planning are crucial. Cities need to look at these measures to reduce cost; maximise the transformational impact of hosting the Games and gain the support of the public.

Legacy has been viewed too narrowly, with the emphasis on the physical structures left behind. We need to think about how we build institutional muscle power – able to deliver benefits before, during and after the event. All too often Games planners focus on event only infrastructure, exclusive ticketed participation and short-term delivery capacity, with cities reverting to their normal operations and frustrations immediately post-Games. Cities need to see the Games as a ‘partner’ in helping them deliver solutions to meet the growing longer-term challenges they are facing. They should be a focal point for citizen engagement and galvanising investment momentum.”

STADIUM DESIGN: Olympic Museum online exhibition

UP TO 7 MAY 2017, THE OLYMPIC MUSEUM IN LAUSANNE IS OFFERING YOU THE CHANCE TO TAKE A MEMORABLE TRIP THROUGH TIME, FROM ANCIENT OLYMPIA TO THE OLYMPIC ARENAS OF THE 21ST CENTURY.

“Stadiums – Past and Future” is more than an exhibition; it’s an entire programme, with a diverse, multi-platform approach. It features a temporary exhibition, educational activities, a magazine-book, an online game and fun, original events.

This range of activities is about looking at stadiums as a whole, from different angles, and not only architecturally.

This exhibition at the Olympic Museum tackles stadium design, past, present and future.

The “Stadium by Stadium” exhibition begins with the “stadion”, the ancient Greek unit of measurement (equal to 192.27 metres, which, according to legend, was 600 times the length of Hercules’s foot. The exhibition briefly looks at the stadium of Olympia, which well and truly measured up, before moving on to the Colosseum in Rome, which was built in the 1st century AD. An incredible arena with more than 50,000 seats, the Colosseum was an innovational structure in many respects, and provided the inspiration for the majority of stadiums built in the centuries that followed.

“A stadium in the city” is an educational programme designed to teach pupils about what building a stadium in a city actually involves. Workshops and tablet-based activities give visitors the chance to explore this topic; younger children can enjoy a construction game with building blocks while teenagers get to stay digital with a multimedia game.

The “Olympic Stadiums: People, Passion, Stories” magazine-book is a richly illustrated souvenir of the changing design and purpose of Olympic stadiums over the past century.

“Pierre de Coubertin in search of a sustainable stadium” is an online “serious game” that lets you play as the reviver of the modern Games as he travels to the present day to build an Olympic stadium in the future host city of the Games. Through interactions with the main stakeholders – the Mayor of the city, Mrs IOC, the head architect and a concerned citizen – he will learn that building a stadium nowadays means planning for sustainable development from beginning to end. It also means asking yourself the right questions, even if they’re not always that easy to answer.

Playing as Pierre de Coubertin, will you be up to the challenge to win a diploma?

At a “stadium-dating” event in January 2017, the general public will get the opportunity to chat with a panel of architecture and urban sociology experts over a drink, and learn more about stadiums from different perspectives.

And during Easter week 2017, a selection of ten films, short films and documentaries will be screened in The Olympic Museum Auditorium, giving the public a chance to explore the world of stadiums through images.

Building a stadium is about building for the future, altering a city’s urban landscape and leaving a legacy!

Join the adventure at The Olympic Museum, on social media and via the Museum website: www.olympic.org/museum

RUGBY UNION: Olympic return draws millions of new fans

A new study conducted by Nielsen Sports on behalf of World Rugby has found that the number of rugby fans in the six markets surveyed has grown by 16.83 million as a result of the sport’s inclusion in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Nielsen Sports study shows positive perceptions of rugby sevens increased, following exciting Olympic tournaments
Additional data shows Rio 2016 rugby sevens was the most socially-engaged rugby sevens event of all time and World Rugby the most-engaged international federation
Rugby continues to experience record participation and interest growth with nearly eight million players and more than 300 million fans worldwide

The impact on fan-engagement of rugby’s return to the Olympic stage for the first time in 92 years, which saw Fiji win their first ever Olympic medal and Australia triumph in the women’s tournament, also saw record numbers in emerging rugby markets.

Of the six core markets surveyed before and after the Games, research showed rugby’s Olympic inclusion increased the reach of the sport in France, Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany and the USA. Support was particularly marked among women and the 18-24 age group, with strong agreement that rugby sevens was great addition to the Olympic Games.

It is estimated that the attraction of new fans, driven by broadcast and social media interaction reaching new audiences, has propelled the total number of rugby fans worldwide to more than 300 million as the sport looks ahead to a first Rugby World Cup in Asia when Japan hosts the 2019 edition.

Key findings of the Nielsen Sports study include:

Inclusion of rugby sevens in the Olympic Games has resulted in the widening of the reach of the sport in France, Japan, UK and the USA, giving World Rugby the opportunity to build the game
Interest grew in nearly all markets surveyed and resulted in an additional 16.83 million fans of rugby sevens – with the largest growth coming in France, the United Kingdom and the USA. Globally this could be a bigger number
Compared with other Olympic sports, growth in interest in rugby sevens saw the biggest increase (four per cent) following the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
There was an average 10 per cent increase across all surveyed markets from those who said they planned to follow rugby sevens at the Olympic Games to those who did follow the tournament, with the highest increase coming in Japan (15 per cent increase)
Thirty-nine per cent of 18-24 year olds in the UK and 36 per cent of 18-24 year olds in France watched rugby sevens at the Olympic Games, while in Japan there was a 16 per cent uplift among 18-24 year olds who thought rugby sevens was an exciting addition to the Games
Interest in the Rugby World Cup grew in all markets – with the largest growth coming in USA (six per cent) and Japan (five per cent), inferring that rugby sevens’ inclusion in Rio had a positive impact on the 15s game

The Olympic Games was instrumental in changing perceptions of rugby sevens with an increase in the percentage of people seeing the sport as ‘exciting’ and ‘entertaining’ as well as significant uplift in agreement with statements such as ‘was a good fit with the Olympics’, ‘was an exciting addition’ and ‘deserves to be included’ following the event. Overall there were marked increases in all surveyed markets and globally in the appropriateness of rugby sevens’ inclusion, with the biggest rise occurring in Australia (16 per cent).

RUGBY SEVENS SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT

Rio 2016 was also the most socially-engaged rugby sevens event of all time based on data provided by The Social Partners.

World Rugby’s social fan-base grew by 670,000 during 2016, while on Twitter and Facebook World Rugby content reached more than 50 million fans with more than 218 million social impressions
World Rugby Sevens generated more total engagements across social (11.02 million) than all the other surveyed sporting bodies combined
Younger audiences led engagement with Snapchat delivering four times as many social interactions than the next closest international federation over the six days of competition
Biggest-ever social footprint for a women’s rugby event with two million engagements on World Rugby platforms and 3.5 million video views
On the average position across all the engagement and fan size rankings, World Rugby Sevens was the clear leader among sporting bodies
£360,000 equivalent ad-spend for World Rugby-generated content, greater than any other international federation

Speaking at the World Rugby Conference and Exhibition 2016 in London, World Rugby Chairman Bill Beaumont said:

World Rugby’s mission is to grow the global rugby family and these statistics demonstrate that we are inspiring new audiences through engaging and innovative content in existing and new rugby markets.

As the results of the Nielsen study show, rugby sevens at the Olympic Games was incredibly successful at reaching and converting new audiences, delivering 16.83 million new fans across six markets to the rugby family in just six days. The high-octane and competitive Olympic tournament won the hearts and minds of fans around the world and provides us with an incredible base to build on as we look towards Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018 in San Francisco and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

World Rugby Chief Executive Brett Gosper added:

Fans are very much at the centre of our strategies to grow the game and we are committed to ensuring that as an international federation and a sport, we continue to ensure that we engage, listen and seek opinion to fans in order that the sport continues to be as relevant, attractive and enjoyable as possible for all.

Added to the Nielsen study, the analysis of World Rugby’s social media engagement during the Olympic Games presents a very positive picture of how the sport is succeeding in reaching out and inspiring new and existing fans through our dynamic online content. We look forward to strengthening reach and engagement through innovation and stronger, more dynamic language capability.

Jon Stainer Nielsen Sports MD said:

Our research shows that rugby sevens at the Olympic Games was a big hit with consumers, generating appeal with new audiences and positively changing perceptions of the sport. In comparison to other sports surveyed, the six days of competition had a significant impact on women in terms of following and in the appropriateness of rugby sevens’ inclusion. Strong resonance in the USA provides World Rugby with a great platform from which to build upon ahead of Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018 in San Francisco.

The statistics further anticipation and excitement ahead of the 2016-17 men’s and women’s HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series which kicks off in Dubai on 1-3 December. It is the first series within the new Olympic Games cycle and new stars and stories will emerge on the road to Tokyo 2020.

Giles Morgan, Global Head of Sponsorship and Events said:

Rugby sevens is experiencing an unprecedented period of growth and interest as evidenced by the incredible statistics from Rio 2016. Ahead of the Rio Games, HSBC published “The Future of Rugby: An HSBC Report”, which featured a number of predictions about the future of the sport and it is great to see that some of those relating to interest and participation are already coming to fruition. The sport is now entering into a pivotal year, with a unique opportunity to accelerate the growth of the game even further and as a long term supporter of rugby sevens at all levels, HSBC is dedicated to supporting World Rugby in what is the most important world series to-date.

LONDON’S 2012 LEGACY: Olympic boroughs race ahead in average property price growth

The six Olympic boroughs for London 2012 have outperformed most other local authority areas in the host city in terms of house price growth, according to residential property crowdfunding platform Property Partner.

Major financial investment has helped boost property prices by an average 64% over the last four years in the ‘Olympic Boroughs’ of Hackney, Newham, Barking and Dagenham, Greenwich, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest. Meanwhile during the same period, the average property price rose by a healthy 52.8% across the capital’s 32 boroughs.

Property Partner analysed the UK House Price Index, using data since the 2012 Games in London.

From amongst the Olympic boroughs, Waltham Forest delivered a peak performance, winning gold for the strongest growth (76%) in average property price rises in London. The average cost of a house today in the East London borough is £418,146 – up from £236,796 in 2012.

Other notable risers include the boroughs of Hackney (66.9%) and Newham (62.6%), taking third and fourth position in the rankings respectively. Non-Olympic borough Lewisham squeezed into second place, with average house prices accelerating by 67.9% in the four years partly due to interest from homebuyers in Blackheath, Brockley and New Cross.

The following table shows how the average property prices fared in the top ten London ‘growth’ boroughs since 2012 – the host boroughs are highlighted below:

Borough	Average house prices – July 2012 (£)*	Average house price – May 2016 (£)	% change
Waltham Forest	236,796	418,146	76.6
Lewisham	243,277	408,599	67.9
Hackney	324,416	541,337	66.9
Newham	216,463	351,893	62.6
Haringey	343,104	554,998	61.8
Tower Hamlets	283,469	455,267	60.6
Barking & Dagenham	168,007	268,579	59.9
Croydon	222,293	354,898	59.7
Merton	323,413	516,088	59.6
Greenwich	241,183	379,746	57.5

Source: UK House Price Index

Former Mayor of London Boris Johnson** identified the host boroughs as areas that would benefit from investment around the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in East London.

Dan Gandesha, CEO of property crowdfunding platform Property Partner, comments:

London 2012 was the catalyst for a flood of investment into the capital, much of which was injected into regenerating some of the capital’s most disadvantaged boroughs.

The economic legacy of the Games – supporting new jobs and skills, encouraging trade, inward investment, tourism and improved transport links – has meant a corresponding rise in house prices in the six host boroughs. The economic, social and environmental gap between these boroughs and the rest of London is closing.

VENUE PEOPLE: Mark Coleman – ‘Bringing a little bit of Rio to the Lee Valley’

Mark Coleman has brought a little bit of Rio to Lee Valley White Water Centre. Having spent time in Rio helping out with the fine tuning and commissioning of the rapids on the prestigious Rio 2016 Olympic Canoe Slalom Course in the Deodoro X-Park in Rio, he has reproduced sections of the Rio rapids at Lee Valley for all to enjoy.

As a specialist in ‘tuning rapids on artificial white water courses’, Mark was asked to help with the commissioning and adjustment of the rapids at the Deodoro X-Park white water course – a final step in the venue delivery process focused on ensuring safety and excitement for the athletes, as well as its ability to perform consistently for Olympic competition. Additionally, after having helped to set up the course he had the honour of being the first to try them out in a raft on a test run last year.

He worked in Rio at the invitation of course modellers and designers Whitewater Parks International (WPI), the company that also designed the Lee Valley White Water Centre. They called him in on a special assignment for 10 days last November to assist in the initial Rio course configuration tuning, adding his years of experience and proven ability in redesigning the rapids at the Lee Valley White Water Centre after the London 2012 Olympics to the WPI Team.

Mark’s unique experience and expertise at Lee Valley White Water Centre has made him an acknowledged expert in the use of RapidBlocs, the moveable and reconfigurable white water obstacle system used at both London and Rio to make the rapids.

But Mark has not always been working with fast flowing water and RapidBlocs. Little did he know when he ran away to sea at the age of 21 that nearly four decades later he would have a hand in setting up the Olympic white water slalom course in Rio for this year’s games.

He has gone from being a building site labourer, to medical research chemist, to runaway sailor, to development chemist, to raft guide and now, at nearly 60 having retired from his first career in the Pharma industry he has become the Course Designer at Lee Valley White Water Centre. Mark said:

I was thrilled to be asked by Whitewater Parks International’s Managing Director Bob Campbell to come out to Rio to help them with the commissioning and tuning of the rapids at the Deodoro X-Park white water course.

It was a great honour to be asked to go to Brazil and to contribute to the course commissioning. When I got there, we turned the water on at competition level for the first time and I could see that WPI had done an excellent job of designing the concrete channels and modelling the initial placement of the RapidBlocs that make the rapids. As an anticipated part of the process, there were some areas that needed additional fine tuning to improve hydraulics. But overall the first configuration was good – really good! The competitors at the test event absolutely loved it.

During the 10 days he was there Mark helped the team to refine all the areas that needed attention. The course was shortly after declared suitable for the Canoe Slalom test event in November 2015 by the International Canoe Federation. Mark added:

The test event was hailed a great success and Great Britain’s David Florence won gold in the Men’s C1 event.

Since his return and the test event he says he has ‘brought a little bit of Rio to Lee Valley.’ At the request of British Canoeing he has recreated sections of the Rio rapids at Lee Valley to help the GB athletes prepare for the games and for the public to enjoy rafting or kayaking.

Mark Coleman (above in Rio) is an expert in the use of RapidBlocs

With 13,000 litres of water a second powering down the Olympic Course at Lee Valley, enough to fill 75 bath tubs every second, or an Olympic sized swimming pool in a little over three minutes, Mark has been working with some strong currents, on what he describes as ‘the largest continuous flow experiment that I have had the pleasure of working on.’

It is a far cry from the early beginnings when he started out life as a Medical Research Chemist with a major pharmaceutical company. Then after three years in the Merchant Navy as a young man he returned as a development chemist, developing life changing medicines. During his time in the Pharma industry he became a pioneer and expert in the use of continuous flow chemistry and continuous processing which, albeit on a much smaller scale, has some parallels with fast flowing water moving down a concrete channel over and around obstacles.

But Mark’s heart was always on the water, having been kayaking for over 30 years as his key hobby. Now he has come full circle ‘living the dream’, with his job as a hobby.

The pivotal time came in 2009 when Mark, from Ware in Hertfordshire, took the opportunity of early retirement to be with his wife Julie who was recovering from cancer. Mark explained:

At the time we didn’t know how things would pan out, but thankfully she has made a full recovery and she spent 5 years at the Lee Valley White Water Centre helping to set up and run the kit room. And with a white water centre having just been built down the road from us, It’s the only way she was going see me.

When I realised that an artificial white water course was being built just down the road from me, my love of the outdoors and paddlesports kicked in and I just knew that I wanted to work there is some capacity. I was knocking on the door before it opened and I decided to train as a Raft Guide in November 2010.

Mark has been at Lee Valley White Water Centre ever since. Mark concluded:

It is fantastic to be earning and living my hobby. Plus it’s brilliant that I’ve been able to use my 35 years’ experience in science and engineering in my role as course designer and raft guide. And going to Rio has been the icing on the cake!

VENUE PROFILE: Lee Valley VeloPark, with General Manager Jeremy Northrop

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park has changed since London 2012, a site cut off from the world around it, to a green space with people walking, cycling and boating through it, with the noise of traffic and construction. In short, it’s become part of London. At the A12 end of the Park, the Copper Box, Lee Valley VeloPark and Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre form a sporting triangle that’s augmented by BT Sports and Loughborough University’s new campus for sport management courses.

Vibrant Partnerships manages Lee Valley VeloPark and Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre which are owned by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority. Jeremy Northrop is the General Manager of Lee Valley VeloPark and Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre and Richard Love is Centre Manager of Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre. Their combined experience encompasses working on the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, nightclub management, opening leisure centres, arts venues and youthful careers as top-class tennis players.

Jeremy Northrop, General Manager.

In this article, UKVMA interviews Jeremy Northrop about both venues . In a parallel article UKVMA interviews Richard Love about Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre.

Lee Valley VeloPark – vital cog in cycling sport

Lee Valley VeloPark General Manager Jeremy Northrop believes one of the main challenges facing the venue is to engage with a wide cycling audience and the general public not used to using a purpose built venue offering multi discipline types of cycling for all:

The prestige of the velodrome as an Olympic and Paralympic venue and the wonderful space gives us a unique venue that is proving popular to hire for corporate opportunities but this also gives us our biggest challenge as it can also act as a barrier for ordinary people and visitors who do not know what goes on inside and around this fantastic venue.

Not everyone realises Lee Valley VeloPark can be enjoyed by anyone, so we work to get clubs, schools, community groups and charities to use the venue, as well as international competition athletes.

The venue’s big screens and signage are reminders that this isn’t an ordinary building. The Olympic effect has resulted in 1.5 million since April 2014, on average 700,000 per year.

No cycling venue in the world gets close. Where else can you say ‘I’ve cycled on the same track on which Sir Chris Hoy, Laura Trott, Mark Colbourne won gold’? Unlike visiting Wembley, where visitors face signs to ‘keep off the grass’, we encourage people to ride on the same track as the world’s best cyclists.

Although the velodrome is booked solid at the moment, we predict a falling away of some of the one off bookings as the memory of London 2012 recedes. The challenge remains to integrate with the local and regional community to ensure long-term success. A growing residential and office area nearby will provide future customers. Northrop explains:

We are delivering a lasting legacy from the London 2012 Games and we will find a compromise between corporate and community use, and those who have never been on a cycle track before in their life. The indoor track programming is currently circa 25% private booking and corporates, 25% schools, clubs and groups and 50% general public. But in 3-5 years’ time the programming is unlikely to look the same.

Vibrant Partnerships has therefore revised the building’s priorities, turning the velodrome into a community and corporate venue capable of holding large events. But is a venue designed for an Olympic Games capable of this change? Northrop:

The building has presented some challenges but nothing damaging to our business. I love the way that the building looks. Given the chance, I would change some of the customer journeys and behind the scenes facilities, but I wouldn’t trade the ‘wow’ factor that people experience when they come in.

A burst of activity in the last decade has built three new indoor velodromes – in London, Glasgow and Derby – to join the National Cycling Centre in Manchester and the Wales National Velodrome in Newport. Jeremy meets with managers from the UK’s other velodromes twice a year and finds the information sharing process very helpful, especially around programming trends.

Lee Valley VeloPark, and in particular, the velodrome, makes itself available to British Cycling for major events but Lee Valley Regional Park Authority and Vibrant Partnerships are fully responsible for the upkeep and management of the venue and how it operates and receives no lottery or British Cycling funding for the day to day operations.

Big event days

Lee Valley VeloPark hosted a sell-out world hour track attempt by Bradley Wiggins and earlier this year hosted the best-attended UCI Track Cycling World Championships ever. This was quickly followed by a week of Comic Relief events, with stars practising with the public during training prior to the show in a major BBC-funded broadcast event. So how does the venue team take on these exceptional events?

It’s exciting to work on these events. Job roles are quite diverse and we’ve a great team at Vibrant Partnerships who get stuck in. A number of staff are NVQ level 4 qualified safety officers which help in managing such large events and spectator numbers. We have people here who worked during Games time so bring that experience. We also have volunteers, some of whom were Gamesmakers. We schedule carefully to be fair to volunteers who sometimes want to be at every event.

Six Day London event.

Jeremy Northrop is also in no doubt about the personal satisfaction of managing such a venue:

Where else are you going to get a World Championships on your CV? Big events are exciting and people love working here.

Vibrant Partnerships staff multi-task between day to day and big events, which require out of hours shifts. The venue currently hosts approximately one spectator event per month. Even when an overlay is in the velodrome, BMX, Road and Mountain Bike activities can continue most of the time. There’s no hanging around getting back to normal use either; the recent World Championships ended on a Sunday, and after a rapid ‘get-out’, the velodrome opened for normal business on the following Tuesday. At another event saw damage to the track and colleagues worked through the night so that the venue could open to the public the following morning. This is different to many of the other high profile venues and theatres where there will be programme quiet time for change-overs and setting up events.

On the different working patterns, Jeremy Northrop observes:

We have to balance our programme carefully and it is a real challenge. We don’t want to be too quiet for too long but neither do we want to be too busy for too long. The amount of work involved in organising, preparing, running and bumping out an event takes longer than people think or expect and doing very long hours during the bump in, event days and bump out is standard.

Day to day staff at Lee Valley VeloPark consist of an assistant manager, duty managers, centre assistant, customer service assistants, management support, coaches, catering, mechanics, engineers and sports-related staff. Vibrant Partnerships has multi-skilled operatives dealing with electrical and mechanical equipment. Three grounds maintenance staff look after landscaping in this part of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. For a large event like the World Championships, the building is staffed 24/7 for a fortnight, with all staff on a rota.

Collaboration between Vibrant Partnerships venues brings value in many ways. The proximity of Lee Valley VeloPark and Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre means that they can combine in hosting large-scale events. Jeremy Northrop and Richard Love have a friendly rivalry around record capacities. The velodrome holds the record at 55,000 for its recent five day World Championships, while June’s Hockey Champions Trophy at Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre will have around 40,000 spectators.

Lee Valley VeloPark development

After the London 2012 Olympic Games, the velodrome was remodelled to support community use, and re-opened fully in April 2014. Development work included the building of a one mile road circuit, a remodelled 390 metre BMX track and skills area and miles of mountain bike trails.

The velodrome is only one part of the VeloPark.

The velodrome houses treatment rooms, newly opened ‘VeloStudio’ consisting of top of the range indoor fitness and training bikes. Balance bikes and pump track activities are provided within the track centre, offering cycling for children aged two years and above. Cycle Surgery provides the retail partnership for the venue and the in-house catering service provides opportunities to develop the offer and increase revenue. Jeremy Northrop is looking to develop indoor BMX’ing, via a purpose built pump track to make it weather-independent. An extra section has been recently added to the road circuit to make a smaller loop that is flatter and more accessible for disabled groups and novice hand-cyclists. Areas outside the velodrome have been used for temporary marquees during large scale events and are contenders for more permanent structures to be built and there are discussions about covering the outside BMX track.