Olympics 2012: construction wins the day

contractjournal.com Newsletter - 07.07.05

Editorial: Time for celebration before the hard graft begins

London has won the right to host the Olympic Games in 2012 providing a jobs bonanza, a tremendous boost to the economy and a heritage of improved sports and transport facilities. Never has an industry had such a bright future. Online news editor Tim Wood urges construction to sit back and enjoy the moment before getting down to the task in hand.

If there was ever a moment that brought an industry together like never before it arrived at 12.46pm in Singapore on Wednesday 6 July 2005.

That was the exact time that the International Olympic Committee announced that London's bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games had been a success - and signalled a works bonanza for UK construction, the likes of which have never have been before - and probably won't ever be seen again.

The capital's narrow win, by just four votes from great rival Paris, means that the industry can look forward to work worth at least £728m, a third of the overall costs of staging the Olympics.

A further breakdown shows that capital costs of infrastructure will total £403m, while expenditure on land purchase and residual value, including the value of remaining buildings and infrastructure, will be valued at around £325m.

Projects to be built will include the construction of an Olympic village and an 80,000-seater Olympic Stadium in Stratford.

Fantastic news for the industry as a whole - and didn't it know it. Minutes after the winner was unveiled, CJ was inundated with emails from all sectors of the industry congratulating the bid team on its success and looking ahead to the many opportunities that will arise as a result.

It's a time of celebration. Too often the stories written about the construction industry centre on bad news - cost and time delays on major projects, payment disputes between firms and partnerships splitting make familiar reading.

You can guarantee that over the next seven years there will be plenty of unflattering stories written about the way London is preparing for what is commonly known as 'the greatest show on earth' - tales of how the industry is doing this wrong and the problems it faces with that.

But right now - let's all remember how we felt yesterday when the news broke - and saviour the moment.

Then when the dust has settled and everyone has calmed down we can concentrate on the job in hand - ensuring that the UK construction industry delivers a games to remember.