The London 2012 Olympics is set to produce some fantastic winners, and they won’t all be sweating it out in the sports arena.

Developers that should be feeling the chill of the capital’s cool market climate are instead watching apartments with an E15 postcode sell like the proverbial hot cakes and the value of upcoming schemes soar. That is only the start. There will be plenty more winners too in the run-up to 2012 and beyond, as you will see in our cover feature on page 16.

But as Regenerate’s readers know, regeneration is a marathon rather than a sprint. Not only is it a long, protracted process in itself, but the consequences of the change that the Olympics will bring will only really become evident long after the athletes have left. Then the Olympics’ power to regenerate will ultimately be measurable in the quality of the lives of the people left behind.

In the meantime turning the base metal of the Lower Lea Valley into gold is going to demand a lot from the regeneration industry: public/private sector co-operation to break down conventional boundaries, financial and business nous to produce best value for all, project management skills to deliver and, above all, quality leadership to bring all these things together.

Some of these skills are likely to be in short supply, and that is an issue that is in the minds not only of those who are filling vacancies for projects in east London, but of the broader industry. On page 29 of this issue you’ll find our first Working in Regeneration survey, carried out jointly with leading recruitment consultancy PSD Group, which looks at the issues, the challenges and the salary packages of the industry. For the survey we asked 50 top executives working in private housebuilders, registered social landlords, quangos and local authorities to tell us about their concerns. Finding the right skills topped the list of challenges across all sectors.

In this context you could see the 2012 Olympics as another drain on scarce resources. But look at it another way. It is set to be one of the best training grounds for skills the industry could have. This is one win that is a racing certainty for the industry. So on your marks…

Source

RegenerateLive

Postscript

Josephine Smit, editor