The Olympic Dating Game

By Heather Farina

When Joan Wales, BP’s VP of strategy and planning remediation management, spoke of speed dating at the International Brownfield Summit in Niagara Falls, Ontario, in June, she wasn’t referring to the cocktail reception that rounded out the conference’s first day of activities.

Specifically, Wales was talking about the subject of redeveloping brownfields into facilities for Olympic Games. Wales, who introduced and moderated the conference’s headlining panel, deemed Olympic redevelopment as “the speed-dating equivalent of brownfield development.”

The dating game begins as cities from around the world romance the International Olympic Committee, luring it with attractions and promises. Then comes the pitch for the pickup — the bid books. For example, both New York and London submitted approximately 600-page bid books to the committee. Every detail of each city’s plans for hosting the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games was captured in the books. In this case, London won the bid for 2012 last summer.

The key, Wales said, is for the committee to place the games where they can deliver the most urban renewal. The cities need to not only convince the committee of how right they are for each other, but sell them on the idea that the relationship could lead to many years of promise and growth. The games must serve as an economic stimulus and catalyst for redevelopment, encouraging long-lasting effects (e.g., more jobs, business and housing; improvements in environment, education, health and culture).

And, despite the fact that the plans are set years in advance, all along, time is the critical issue. Once the location has been chosen and locked in with the Olympic date, there can be no holdups. The right partnerships need to be made from day one.
Only a select few make it beyond their first few dates with the International Olympic Committee. This issue of Brownfield News looks at two — Vancouver, British Columbia, and London, England.