Paul Nash FCIOB
Director, Cyril Sweett
To say that the tube will be congested at peak times is an understatement when you consider how bad it can get on a normal summer day.
The Olympic events tend to take place either during the morning or evening, so we have introduced a flexible working policy which encourages people to either start early and finish early, or come in late and leave late to miss the rush. Staff are being encouraged to use video conferencing or WebEx internet conferencing as an alternative to
face-to-face meetings, but some people are also predicting a higher level of internet traffic during the Games that could disrupt IT and business systems. You just can’t win.
Peter Jacobs FCIOB
Regional managing director for London, Morgan Sindall
We have clients, such as Crossrail and Heathrow Airport, that have contractual agreements to shut down certain sites during the Games due to travel congestion and perceived security risk, although our safety and security staff will remain in place.
Other London sites impacted by travel and congestion will open earlier, but I’m not expecting a major effect on work or productivity. We’ve done a lot of planning with consultants, reorganised delivery schedules and complied with Transport for London’s requirements, such as not erecting or dismantling scaffolding during the Games.
Celeste Williams-Condor MCIOB
Project manager, Mace Group
I’m working on risk management for the post-Olympic legacy transformation works, which start on site just six weeks after the close of the Games, so I have to be on site fairly regularly, as well as attend meetings based in our client and design team’s London office.
Fortunately, because the majority of my work is done using a laptop and a phone, Mace has been flexible and allowed me to work remotely where necessary. But many people I work with will be affected — some have to disembark at Stratford station, which is the main entry point for the Games and a major hotspot.
The best idea is to plan ahead, which coming from a risk manager has to be good advice, right?
Nigel Bellamy
Director, 8Build
I think travel disruption has been over-hyped by the media and won’t necessarily have that much effect, as there are only 500,000 people visiting the Olympics who will all be in specific areas of London. We have identified five of our sites in central London that could be a concern, including one in Euston on a main thoroughfare for the Olympics. At these sites we plan to reduce, re-time and re-route site activities to minimise disruption during congested periods and our suppliers are looking at reducing the number of deliveries.
Where our surveyors and engineers are involved with more than one project, we will try to ensure they are based on out-of-town projects during the two weeks, or ensure they visit sites as little as possible.
We’re not allowing staff to take any time off during the Games without booking in advance, but our main office will have TVs on every floor, with the sound off, so people can continue to work and stay abreast of the sport.
Gareth Jones
Commercial director, Ainscough Crane Hire
We’re writing to our clients to ask if they will need cranes in central London during the two weeks and, if so, can they get them delivered in advance, and we’re asking those that no longer need cranes if we can remove them before the Games start.
In terms of disruption caused by staff watching the events, we’re not expecting any rise in absence. Those that have tickets have booked time off and the rest of the guys will try to see what they can between working periods.
The nature of the business means there is a lot of downtime and we don’t have a problem with operatives watching the Games when they are not busy if they want to. All of our trucks have TVs, so staff will have plenty of chance to catch the Games.
