Gold medals and huge stadiums full of cheering fans are one thing, but who’s
going to clean up all that mess? Worried? Grab a broom or take a look at the
principles behind One Planet Olympics. Based on One Planet Living and
pioneered by the environmental charities World Wildlife Fund UK and
BioRegional, it says that if everyone in the world lived as Europeans do, it
would take three planets to support us all. Its ten principles have been
adapted for the 2012 Games:
1. Zero carbon. Carbon-efficient vehicles will be used on the
Olympic site, and renewable energy sources used where possible. Unavoidable
emissions from international flights will be offset by schemes in developing
countries, such as funding more efficient wood-burning stoves, says Sue
Riddlestone, the director of BioRegional.
2. Zero waste. With high recycling targets set for East
London in the long term, none of the rubbish from the Games should end up in
a landfill. “Everyone’s got an individual responsibility,” says David
Stubbs, head of sustainability at Locog. So put that bottle in the recycling
bin.
3. Sustainable transport. Spectators are urged to travel to
the Games by public transport, on foot or by bicycle, the long-term target
is reduced car dependency in the Lower Lea Valley. Riddlestone wants to see
car clubs, alternative fuel filling stations and better infrastructure for
dual-fuel cars.
4. Local and sustainable food. There will be promotion of
seasonal, local and organic produce and campaigns to make the link between
sport, diet and health more explicit. In the long term, more farmers’
markets and better food composting facilities in East London are planned.
5. Sustainable water. During the Games, recycled water will
be used for irrigation and vehicle washing. Grey water — bath, shower and
laundry water — can be used for energy production.
6. Local and sustainable materials. Reclaimed, reused and
recycled is the mantra adopted by One Planet Olympics for all building
materials.
7. Natural habitats and wildlife. There will be a green
corridor from the Lea Valley to the River Thames, including a new park.
Waterways will be cleaned to encourage biodiversity. But building work could
disturb wildlife, which includes kingfishers, herons and cormorants. Stubbs
says work will be phased to try to minimise this.
8. Equity and fair trade. This includes things such as
affordable ticketing and fair trade procurement processes. One Planet
Olympics points to affordable housing, local employment and education.
9. Culture and heritage. The Games should reflect the
ethnically diverse local population.
10. Health and happiness. The health benefits of exercise and
the positivity of regenerating East London will be emphasised. “There’s a
massive sustainable opportunity here,” Stubbs says. “You’re taking something
that is primarily degraded and neglected, in a deprived area, and making it
fit for the 21st century.”
FLAT-PACK OLYMPICS
What’s this? Fold-away swimming pools?
Not quite. More like demountable, moveable arenas and swimming pools.
Like those little houses you see on the back of lorries on the
motorway, only bigger?
No. We’re talking about 10,000-seat Olympic arenas that could be
upped and moved to a new home once the Games are over.
Is that what is planned?
Well, it’s one idea being considered by Locog. It has identified that
the Games will require a stadium and four arenas as well as venues that
already exist or were going to be built anyway. Three of the arenas will
probably be temporary, and they could just dismantle them and put the bits
and pieces back on the market. Or they could find an “end user” elsewhere in
the country, say a football club that thinks it’ll need a new stadium in
2012. An arena could then be designed with a view to dismantling it and
putting it up elsewhere permanently.
Very clever, but what about the permanent venues? Will they just sit
there after the Olympics?
Oh no. It’s all about sustainability. “You don’t want a white
elephant,” says Ron Henry, director of facilities, architecture and
engineering at URS, a global engineering and environmental consultancy which
advised the London bid for the Games. The best thing to do, he says, is to
find a legacy user, such as a football club or a company that would run it
as an entertainment venue whose capacity needs are as close as possible to
the Olympic capacity. “The Sydney stadium was designed to seat 80,000, but
it had a surge capacity for the opening and closing ceremonies of 110,000
made up by temporary seating,” Henry says. “That’s a good way to do things.”
So the end use dictates the capacity during the Games? Yes;
end users will use it for a lot longer than the Olympians. And temporary
seating is sturdy, it’s is not just a few deckchairs on the grass outside.
What if Locog had decided that there were enough venues already in
London to host the Games without building any more?
It’s happened before. The main stadium for the 1984 Games in Los
Angeles was the Coliseum, built in 1922. This year’s Fifa World Cup finals
will be in a temporary stadium. “It needs to be well thought out socially
and economically,” Henry says. The regeneration that the 2012 Games will
bring to the area should justify the building of the stadium, but it will be
“absolutely crucial” that a suitable legacy user is found.
SARAH CAMPBELL
