BCC has received several enquiries from Chambers about the 2012 London Olympics.

BCC and the London Chamber will be meeting shortly and it will be on the agenda for the June Chief Executives Forum for discussion and determination of any business opportunity for Chamber members.

Your Chief Executive may well already be in discussion with your local RDA.

This update is to advise you of the information we have at present.

The successful delivery of the 2012 Olympics will depend largely on the support of the business community. This factsheet provides a starting point for Chambers looking to get involved.

· The Olympic Games will run from 27^th July to 12^th August 2012. The Paralympic Games will run from the 29^th August to 9^th September.

· Most of the Olympic events will take place within the newly built Olympic Park in the Lower Lea Valley, East London. 15 of the 26 sports will take place within 4 miles of Tower Bridge, but others will be held elsewhere in London and the UK.

· Football matches will be at Old Trafford (Manchester), Villa Park (Birmingham), Hampden Park (Glasgow), St. James’ Park (Newcastle), Millennium Stadium (Cardiff) and Wembley Stadium (London), sailing events will be at Weymouth and Portland; tennis will be at Wimbledon; archery at Lord’s Cricket Ground; rowing at Eton-Dorney; triathlon in Hyde Park; equestrian and modern pentathlon in Greenwich Park; and beach volleyball in Horse Guards Parade.

Who’s in Charge?

¨ The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) is the key body charged with preparing and staging the Games. LOCOG is chaired by Lord Coe; the CEO is Paul Deighton (formerly of Goldman Sachs).

¨ The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) works alongside LOCOG. The ODA’s brief is to deliver the venues, infrastructure and legacy facilities.

¨ Both LOCOG and the ODA report to the Olympic Board, whose members are the games key stakeholders: Lord Coe (LOCOG); Simon Clegg (Chief Executive, British Olympic Association); Mayor of London Ken Livingstone (Greater London Authority); and Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell (Department of Culture, Media and Sport).

¨ The London Development Agency (LDA) will be the source of contracts for demolition, remediation and bulk earthworks.

What business opportunities will be available?

The 2012 Olympics will provide business opportunities for almost every sector. As well as construction and engineering, there will be contracts for merchandising, catering, design and marketing.

According to www.london2012.com, most opportunities for SMEs will arise from the supply chains around the major contracts. The main requirements will be for:

o People – on both short and long-term contracts;

o Olympic Park work – assembly, land remediation, construction etc;

o Venues – including the support facilities and transport infrastructure;

o Legacy – dismantling and conversion of facilities to long-term use; and

o Operations – sponsorship, equipment, seating, security, catering and merchandise. These will be particularly important sources of opportunities for small firms.

Sponsorship

LOCOG is looking to raise around 35% of its £2 billion commercial revenue target from sponsorship deals with British businesses, of which 80% would come from approximately 10 ‘Tier One’ companies. There would also be 20 to 30 ‘Tier Two’ sponsors and 30 to 50 in ‘Tier Three’.

Full details of the sponsorship plan will be published later this year.

Key contacts for business

www.london2012.com is the key starting point for information on all aspects of London Olympics and the source of much of the information in this factsheet.