LONDON 2012 is now well on track with momentum building up, but
nothing really visible until after Beijing 2008. The management of the
massive operation has been broken down into two distinct segments, both
sharing offices in Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, where looking to
the north, they will be able to see the whole vista of the main
Olympic site unfurl over the coming years (as our artist impression
shows). The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG),
headed by Sebastian Coe, is responsible for the preparation and staging
of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, in other words the actual
sports. It is the interface with the International Olympic Committee.
The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) is the public body responsible
for ensuring delivery of the new permanent Games venues, and the total
infrastructure and transport into the site for athletes, officials and
the media. Jack Lemley, former chief executive of Transmanche-Link,
the consortium of five British and five French companies responsible
for constructing and equipping the Channel Tunnel, is chairman. David
Higgins is chief executive, his CV including MD of the Lend Lease Group
in Australia who developed the Olympic Village and Aquatic Centre for
the Sydney Games in 2000, as well as Bluewater in Kent, Europe's
largest retail and leisure complex. The project is immense. On the
transport side it takes in the road infrastructure including cars,
buses, coaches and private hire vehicles; the airline industry and
airports including executive and general aviation: trains, both
Eurostar style and Transport for London; cruise ships who will moor in
the Thames and smaller shipping and private yachts; with the whole of
the main Olympic area criss-crossed with rivers and canals, the
marshalling of small boats and canal craft will also prove to be a
Herculean task.
http://www.london2012.org