Pressure on to keep Olympic bid’s best practice promises

Members of the London Olympic bid team and senior industry figures have called on the government to ensure that the procurement and sustainability targets set out in the bid document are met.

The industry is lobbying the government to make the Olympic building programme a showcase for best practice procurement.

David Stubbs, London 2012’s sustainability expert, has also called on the government to use its newly formed Olympic board to make sure that pledges on sustainability are carried through to 2012.

Stubbs, who is London 2012’s environmental project manager, said: “We’re in the transition from campaigning to delivery. Who is looking after what at the moment is up for grabs. Not everyone in the world is so finely attuned to the importance of sustainability.”

The London bid document promised to make the Games the “greenest ever”, with low carbon emissions and no waste.

Stubbs added that the Olympic board, which will include the Olympic minister Tessa Jowell and possibly the London mayor, should “straddle” the Olympic Delivery Authority and the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games. The LOCOG, which will be headed by Sebastian Coe, is to be responsible for the staging of the Olympics; the ODA, which will not be set up until next year, is responsible for venues.

He said: “Now the question is how best to introduce the environmental and sustainability parts of the bid. It will be frontloaded to the ODA and then LOCOG will take over further down the line. The Olympics board should be there to resolve any fight between LOCOG and the ODA.”

There is now speculation that the Olympic board could encourage the LOCOG and the ODA to be branded under the same London 2012 banner which is already well known across the country.

The board should be there to resolve any fights

David Stubbs, London 2012

One bid insider said that there needed to be one public face for the Games. The insider said: "The ODA is going to be like the LDA, a delivery authority, and who among the London public has heard of the LDA?"

Meanwhile representatives from Constructing Excellence for the Built Environment and specialist contractor trade body the SEC Group have contacted the DTI to urge that the 2012 construction programme implement the best practice methods outlined in a National Audit Office report on public sector procurement. The guidance called for fully integrated teams on construction projects.

Dennis Lenard, the chief executive of Constructing Excellence, said: “We want to set up a proper level of integration between all parties involved, including supply-chain teams and partnership between the different delivery clients. This is a fantastic opportunity for the UK, and we have to put our best foot forward from day one.”

The SEC Group is meeting Alun Michael, the construction minister, in the next fortnight to discuss the issue and both organisations are seeking talks with Jowell.

Lenard has also called for the DTI to revise plans to appoint a single project manager to oversee the building programme, a tender that was put out this month, claiming the move will stifle innovation.

He said: “A single project manager is a way for the government to ensure accountability, but it endangers creativity. You are far more likely to get innovation if you have different teams in place for each project.”

Rudi Klein, the chief executive of the SEC, said the Olympics offered the government a final opportunity to prove it was behind the principles of integration. He said: “This has got to be it. If we show we are capable of delivering the best as an industry now, it will stand us in good stead for the next 50 years.”