The London Sustainable Development Commission’s 2012 London Quality of Life Indicators Report finds that overall quality of life for Londoners is getting better despite the recession and record population growth over the past 10 years.

The report’s indicator set encompasses 33 headline indicators across the environmental, social and economic spheres – from energy use, air pollution and traffic volumes to life expectancy, happiness and employment levels. The majority of the indicators have improved in the past three years.

Falling traffic, waste and emissions

Despite London’s population increasing by more than 850,000 people in the last decade, traffic volumes dropped by seven per cent between 2003 – 2010, with 1.5 billion fewer vehicle journeys between 2009-2012, and total household waste fell from 3.4 million tonnes in 2006-7 to 3 million tonnes in 2010-11. CO2 levels have fallen by almost one tonne per capita since 2009.

Improving education and stabilising employment

The proportion of pupils obtaining at least 5 GCSE passes at A*-C or equivalent has increased by 29% since 2004.

Employment levels have stabilised at around 69 per cent during the last three years and there is evidence that the employment rate for London has been increasing since mid 2009. While one-year and three-year business survival rates are down, 60% of London businesses started in 2007 were still trading three years later. London has a 19 per cent market share in the green jobs sector in the UK and 0.7 per cent of global market share. Jobs in the green economy rose slightly between 2008-09 and 2009-10.

In 2012, 22.9 per cent of firms in London reported introducing product innovations, a rise from 20 per cent in 2009. In the same year, 13.2 per cent of London firms reported introducing process innovations, also a rise since 2009 when levels were at nine per cent.

Increasing life expectancy

Life expectancy has also improved for both men and women with males’ life expectancy increasing to 79 years from 77.4 and females up to 83.3 years form 82. Both figures compared 2008-10 with 2004-06 data.

Room for improvement

Not all areas of life have improved during the past decade. The cost of childcare has risen whilst its availability has decreased. Between 2009-2011 the number of childcare places for under eights per 100 children has declined by just over four per cent and London has the highest childcare costs of all regions in the UK. The affordability of housing continues to be a problem – affordability has more than halved in the capital since 1997 and London homes were also 37 per cent less affordable than the national average.

Working to be the best big city in the world

London is the only major world city to produce such a comprehensive report examining all aspects of life across the three main themes of environment, economy and social progress. The LSDC produced the first Quality of Life Indicators Report in 2004 and subsequent reports were produced in 2005 and 2009. The report provides baseline data that will inform the Commission’s future work programme and advice to the Mayor, contributing to his aspiration for London to be the best big city in the world:

“The London Sustainable Development Commission supports this aspiration and believes that as part of being ‘best’ we should work to make London the benchmark for sustainable cities by 2020. To improve our chances of achieving this we need first to know what this would mean in economic, environmental and social terms; where we currently stand; and then measure progress against these issues.”

Mayor of London Boris Johnson welcomed the report:

“This snapshot of London life underlines that despite the economic difficulties of the last few years, the capital continues to thrive and can justifiably lay claim to be the best big city in the world to live, work and do business in.

“London is a great place to invest – air quality is improving, we’re one of the greenest capital cities and we have a well educated and highly-skilled workforce.”

LSDC Commissioner Dr Paul Toyne who has lead on the report for the Commission said:

“As a Londoner and London resident, sustaining the best possible quality of life is something I am passionate about. Improving it without losing the unique and vibrant identity of this city is key.

“The challenge remains to transform London into a more sustainable city. One that will safeguard us against the potential environmental, social and economic disruption that will affect our health, well-being, community spirit and economic viability.

“Despite the general evidence pointing to overall quality of life improvements there are large variations borough by borough. For London to really progress we need to ensure the quality of life improves for all Londoners, regardless of gender, background and where they live – the goal must be for an inclusive approach offering opportunities for all.”

Further reading

• London’s Quality of Life Indicators 2012 Report: summary report, full report and data available to download
• Past reports

You may also be interested in...

• An index for a better life
• Healthy lives, healthy people: improving public health outcomes
• New contract for rural economies, communities and quality of life

Companies that invest in sustainability do better financially

Harvard Business Review has published an analysis of corporate sustainability data showing that resource efficient companies — those that use less energy and water and create less waste in generating a unit of revenue — tend to produce higher investment returns than their less resource-efficient rivals.

More from Harvard Business Review…

Private landlords plan to take advantage of Green Deal

According to the National Landlords Association’s latest Landlord Panel, the majority of landlords are considering taking advantage of the new energy efficiency measures available in October 2012. 63 per cent of landlords say they are aware of the Green Deal and 56 per cent of landlords are considering taking advantage of the energy initiative.

More from NLA…

The Green Climate Fund and private finance: Instruments to mobilise investment in climate mitigation projects

Climate Change Capital has published a discussion article arguing that governments will need to leverage a share of the US$117 trillion of assets managed by private investors in order to tackle climate change, . However, various barriers have prevented the capital for climate mitigation projects to flow at the scale required. The publication is intended as a primer for policy makers exploring instruments the private sector facility of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) can deploy to mobilise investment in climate mitigation projects.

More from Climate Change Capital…

Food and drink company financial officers engaging with sustainability

The 2012 Sustainability & the CFO Study, conducted by Verdantix on behalf of Deloitte, has found that CFOs are engaging with sustainability. 49% of CFOs saw a signicant link between sustainability performance and nancial performance, 53% of CFOs said their involvement had increased over the last year while 61% expected their involvement to increase over the next 2 years.

More from Deloitte…

The Crystal: London’s new urban development centre

Siemens opened the Crystal on September 19th 2012, housing the world’s largest exhibition dedicated to sustainable urban development. The crystal-shaped building will serve as a conference center, urban dialogue platform and technology and innovation center, bringing together political decision-makers, infrastructure experts and the general public in order to develop concepts for the future of cities and their infrastructures.

More about The Crystal…

You may also be interested in...

• Business news round-up: water, strategy, product footprints, green growth, low carbon funding, awards

If you play a word association game with people over 50 and say “1976”, they will probably say “hot summer”. The driest summer for 200 years prompted the appointment of Denis Howell as Minister for Drought. His appointment was followed immediately by heavy rain and widespread flooding, possibly one of the most successful departments in history.

If you say “perfect ten” to the same fifty-something, they will inevitably say “Nadia Comaneci”. The 14 year-old Romanian gymnast took the 1976 Montreal Games by storm, scoring an unprecedented “perfect 10” and winning three gold medals. It was so unusual that the electronic scoreboard at the time was unable to record a number bigger than 9.99 so they had to record 1.0 to the world as Olympic history was made.

It is not necessary to be perfect to win a gold medal – you just need to be better than everybody you are competing against.

Sustainability medal contenders

When we consider sustainability and legacy there are two clear medal contenders. Sydney was the first to call itself the “Green Games” and is a hard act to follow. Some great initiatives involving solar energy and water use stood out in 2000. For legacy we go back to 1992. The Barcelona Games helped to regenerate the east side of the city by building the Olympic Village on the waterfront and creating a new beach resort. The Games also put the city on the map as a tourist destination and a great place of culture built on the legacy of Picasso and Gaudi. Beijing was never really a medal contender and Athens did not get past the heats.

London 2012′s holistic sustainability programme

London 2012 is the first Olympic and Paralympic Games to attempt to deliver a holistic sustainability programme from construction, through Games-time and into legacy.

It is also the first to open itself up to scrutiny by an independent commission such as ours. The Commission is the first (and hopefully not the last) body of its kind; empowered to assure all aspects of social, economic and environmental sustainability across all the organisations tasked with delivering the London 2012 venues, Games and legacy in the UK. I have had the honour to chair the Commission since its inception in 2006, and will do through a period of transformation work to March 2013. I report directly to the Mayor of London and the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and have an independent voice to the public through our reports and website. We are empowered to report honestly to the public and we don’t allow any aspects of sustainability to be fudged or brushed under the carpet.

Sustainable construction for London 2012

From a sustainability perspective, London 2012 has been mostly a success. If we consider construction; there is no doubt that the ODA has delivered great sustainable venues. From the wonderful Velodrome, with 30% better energy efficiency than that required by building regulations and half the materials of the equivalent building in Beijing, to the less iconic but equally important energy centre with tri-generation, heating, cooling and non-potable water infrastructure throughout the Park. The Park has the UK’s first industrial scale membrane bio-reactor delivering non-potable water from the product of one of London’s main sewers which run under the Park.

The ODA’s learning legacy is making profound changes to the way the construction industry views sustainability. My only criticisms would be that the learning legacy is a bit sugar coated. At a recent event one of the architects of an iconic venue was asked what they have learned and what they would do differently. The answer was nothing at all. We learn best from our mistakes and nothing is perfect – such arrogance is unnecessary and does nothing to help us to improve. I would also have liked to see a more radical approach to the energy infrastructure. Great as it is, it requires natural gas as a primary fuel source and given the cancellation of the planned wind turbine, renewable energy is conspicuous by its absence.

The first low carbon Olympic cauldron

The Games have started now and the spectacular Danny Boyle opening ceremony had a climax that sent a powerful message about sustainability around the world. London 2012 has delivered the world’s first low carbon flame in the first low carbon Olympic cauldron. Beijing’s cauldron was a monster weighing in at 300 tonnes. The London 2012 cauldron is tiny by comparison – it is on a human scale. It is approximately 8.5 metres tall and weighs just 16 tonnes. Of course less material means less carbon in the manufacture and less natural resource required for the materials. The flame was pretty spectacular on the night, but then at other times, and especially overnight, the gas flow can be reduced very significantly. This means that it is possible to reduce the gas consumption from 100% down to 15%.

Ground-breaking sustainability initiatives

LOCOG has made meticulous plans to deliver unprecedented levels of sustainability through a variety of ground-breaking initiatives. An example of this would be the implementation of the Sustainable Sourcing Code and the Diversity and Inclusion Business Charter. Together these initiatives are driving the supply chain to unprecedented levels of environmental and socio-economic sustainability.

The food vision and zero waste plans also work well together to transform the catering and waste industries. The food vision sets new levels of sustainability through the chain of custody and the zero waste target requires all food packaging to be bio-degradable. Even though LOCOG has gone to great lengths to make the waste process as simple as possible, we have seen problems in test events which we said we expected to be ironed out for the Games. We are out in the venues every day during the Games to review these things and report back.

The local community and communities across the UK have benefited from jobs, skills and employment opportunities through a partnership between the delivery bodies, local authorities, skills agencies, job centres and community groups. This required detailed planning and forecasting of skills requirements and the combined resources to deliver work-ready and appropriately skilled people at the time they are needed. This is a big challenge and requires all the parts to come together at the right time. Any major project, event or venture would benefit from this approach but be warned; it is not easy.

The first public transport Games

London 2012 will be the first public transport Games and the recent publication by the London Legacy Development Corporation of their sustainability guide provides good evidence of their commitment to making the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park “a blueprint for sustainable living” as promised at the outset.

Areas for future improvement

Not everything is perfect and there are some issues which will not be resolved by London 2012 and need to be addressed in future. These include: a low carbon fuel source for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park; addressing labour standards in the supply chain, particularly for merchandise; and dealing with wider stakeholder concerns about the corporate behaviour of commercial partners. The innovative sponsorship opportunity for “Sustainability Partners” has not been wholly successful and we would recommend that similar initiatives are much more explicit in their commitments, so the partner “earns” the right rather than just paying for it.

Inspiring sustainable behaviour

We have always maintained that an Olympiad can only be considered sustainable if it can influence more sustainable behaviour beyond the Games.

We have recorded some early encouraging signs and plan to review this aspect in more detail after the Games. In order to help facilitate this we propose a series of events after the Games entitled “Beyond 2012”. The roundtables, which will take place in late 2012 and early 2013, are intended to unlock new thinking and challenge established views around sustainability. By timing these events after the Games we believe we can deal with issues too controversial or sensitive to be dealt with before the Games where there is too much at stake. Output from the series will benefit large corporations, major global event planners and governing authorities. Each roundtable will be professionally facilitated and will focus on one topic. Areas include transport, construction and infrastructure, supply chain, food, sponsorship, legacy, events and assurance. To ensure that each roundtable provides valuable and actionable insights, the Commission will be inviting expert individuals from a range of backgrounds and organisations to have an honest conversation about where London excelled and where things could have been done better. We want to break down the barriers and polarisation that can often influence much of the sustainability agenda and instead take a more collaborative approach to advance sustainability thinking in the years ahead.

Embedding sustainability

London 2012 has demonstrated what can be done when sustainability is embedded in a systemic way in early planning. However, we cannot ignore the fact that this is the first time this type of holistic lifecycle approach has ever been attempted on this scale, and naturally some initiatives did not work as planned. This is why this initiative is so important for us to learn from – both the good and the not so good. Insights gathered from our Beyond 2012 series will be compiled into a publicly available report detailing key recommendations, case studies and areas for further consideration.

No “perfect 10″ but a gold for London

2012 may also be remembered for a hosepipe ban followed by the wettest summer in history but it will also be remembered for the London Olympic and Paralympic Games. Although not a “perfect 10”, London 2012 can claim a gold medal for the most sustainable Games ever.

You may also be interested in...

• London 2012: the most sustainable Games to date
• Working for a sustainable London 2012: in video
• London 2012 sustainability lessons learned

Eight new London Leaders for 2012 have been chosen from across the capital to inspire more sustainable lives. The London Leaders initiative, now in its fifth year, aims to help make the capital a world leader in social, environmental and economic sustainability by 2020.

Selected by the London Sustainable Development Commission for their vision and ability to inspire others to lead greener and more socially responsible lives, the leaders will launch a series of flagship projects including a scheme to motivate espresso lovers to use waste coffee grounds for compost, an urban ‘pop-up’ natural play shop and a new smart phone app to reduce litter on our streets.

LSDC Chair John Plowman with London Leaders Andrew Dakers, Alo Raptopoulos, Maeve Carys McLoughlin, Paula Owen, Zoe Robinson, Deborah Rothenberg and Nigel Tyrell

Mayor of London Boris Johnson welcomed the new cohort of London Leaders, which is backed by his volunteering initiative Team London:

“In this Olympic year London can really showcase to the world that it is one of the most sustainable cities on the planet. I welcome the new London Leaders to their role and congratulate them on having the vision and the drive to make a real difference in their communities. Practical leadership in sustainability will improve the quality of life for all Londoners in the years to come.”

The new London Leaders and their projects are:

• Alo Raptopoulos – Cause You Can Workshops
  A series of after-school workshops for Primary school children in deprived boroughs. Performing arts’ training -culminating in live performances- is used to build confidence and character, with a view to create sustainable leadership and aid social cohesion.
• Andrew Dakers – The Wex Factor
  Turning ‘work experience’ into work inspiration’ and helping young people make the right choices as they move from school into employment.
• Maeve Carys McLoughlin – 600% Engagement
  Utilising the amazing creative resources London has to offer by helping to take environmental action to the next level, through engaging hearts and minds with creative, thought-provoking and upbeat communications.
• Nigel Tyrell – Love Clean London App
  Using a smartphone app to improve the quality of life in London by encouraging volunteering, respect and responsibility for the environment. The app allows people to report any rubbish dumping or environmental damage quickly and easily to keep the city clean.
• Paul Hocker – London Play’s ‘Pop-Up’ natural play shops
  Where outdoor play spaces are rare in the capital, these free to use high street locations will give children the chance to experience nature on their doorstep.
• Paula Owen – Making London More Sustainable – One Game at a Time
  Using the idea of games to encourage people to change their behaviour and habits so they become more sustainable in their everyday lives, bringing fun to the challenge to be greener.
• Zoe Robinson – The Good Wardrobe
  A sustainable fashion website helping Londoners to share information and prolong the life of their wardrobes: the antithesis of fast fashion.
• Deborah Rothenberg – London GroundtoGround
  Mapping cafes and restaurants that give away their used coffee grounds and inspire latte lovers to use the grounds as compost for their plants.

John Plowman, the chair of the LSDC, wished the new Leaders all the best with their projects:

“We need people with vision and drive to lead sustainable change across London. This year’s Leaders have all of that in abundance and I look forward to seeing them succeed in their chosen projects in the coming 12 months.”

HM Treasury publishes definition of environmental tax

The Government has published its definition of environmental taxes, designed to encourage effective policy making and measurement of progress against the Coalition Agreement pledge to increase the proportion of revenue that comes from environmental tax.

Environmental taxes are defined as those which meet all of the following three principles:

• The tax is explicitly linked to the Government’s environmental objectives;
• The primary objective of the tax is to encourage environmentally positive behaviour change; and
• The tax is structured in relation to environmental objectives, for example: the more polluting the behaviour, the greater the tax levied.

More from HM Treasury…

DECC launches community low carbon heating scheme

A new community scheme under the Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP) is open to applications. Community groups can bid for a share of £8 million to install low carbon heating like solar thermal panels, biomass boilers and heat pumps into homes in their local area. Community-based organisations including community co-operatives, voluntary groups, social enterprises and development trusts are eligible to apply.

More from DECC…

Environmental Audit Committee inquiry into outcomes of UN Rio+20 Earth Summit

The EAC has launched a new inquiry into the outcomes of the UN Rio+20 Earth Summit in June, looking in particular at what actions and strategies the UK Government should now follow to take forward the concerns and commitments expressed in the Summit outcomes report.

More from the EAC…

New green wall for London

Transport for London has installed a green wall to help combat London’s air pollution. The 200 square-metre wall is made up of 15 varieties of emission-trapping plants which help reduce locally generated pollution, particularly from nearby busy roads. The wall at The Mermaid event centre in Blackfriars is London’s second green wall. The first was installed last year on Marylebone Road at Edgware Road station.

Financed by the Department for Transport as part of the Mayor’s Clean Air Fund, the green walls are part of a package of measures which aim to reduce particles of PM10, a pollutant coming mostly from traffic emissions.

More from TfL…

European Commission proposes further emissions cuts for cars and vans

The European Commission has put forward proposals to implement targets that will further considerably reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from new cars and light commercial vehicles (vans) by 2020.

More from EC…

You may also be interested in...

• News round-up: appraisal, green partnership, green investment

The profile of the low carbon economy and the need to reduce carbon emissions has dipped recently, along with the stock market. The domestic political agenda is currently dominated by the economy, the Leveson Inquiry, the state of the euro and, of course, the Euro 2012 football championship (although I suspect our interest here won’t last too long). Yet now is exactly the right time to take action in London.

Policy makers and influencers understand the need for action but must also recognise the very real economic pressures on individual households, be they families or single people, old or young. Early, focused and effective action is imperative if we are to save the planet from the effects of rising temperatures, sea levels and volatility. We can do this by demonstrating the desire and commitment to help low income households by reducing their utility bills and leaving them with the benefit of at least a little extra cash in their pockets.

Going green must not mean a lower quality of life or greater costs. But this requires collective action and a sustained effort.

So, what needs to happen?

1. The Government is to complete the design of and delivery mechanisms for the Green Deal.
2. The Green Deal has to be a convincing win-win for consumers and not just a break-even calculation supported by a lot of finger-crossing – the costs of going green must be less than the savings generated.
3. The Mayor of London must bring together local authorities and London’s housing associations to put in place an implementation plan that sees our social housing benefitting first from the Green Deal in London – reaching many of those households most in need of support whilst also ensuring a programme of scale and impact is delivered from the outset. (This, in turn, can also go on to create a perfect platform for moving in to other sectors, most notably low income households in the private rented sector.)
4. The Department for Energy and Climate Change must ensure that the necessary mechanisms, incentives and resources (including the potential for under-spent Community Energy Saving Programme budgets) are in place so that the Green Deal can be launched across London at a level and impact unlikely to be seen anywhere else.

None of this will be plain sailing and that some will say it can’t be done. But we all know that we need to think big. But just thinking is not enough – we now need to plan and deliver big!

London is in a powerful place to do this with the Mayor of London providing leadership and a strong local government sector and big hitting housing associations to ensure wide implementation.

Let’s work together and flick the switch to GO for green and GO for the Green Deal.

You may also be interested in...

• The Green Deal: next steps, legislation, consultation response and explanatory animation

The Base London 2012 conference programme aims to provide a combination of inspiration and practical, sound advice free of overtly self-promotional commercial messages. Sessions will cover a range of sectors – including construction, property, transport, energy and resource management – based around a series of half-day sector-orientated conferences, with opening and closing high-level plenary sessions.

Plenary sessions will include an overview of what’s happening in London from City Hall, keynote addresses, a private sector perspective on the opportunity of sustainable cities, and panels on funding and moving forward.

The sector-oriented streams will explore the following areas:

• Domestic retrofit: Setting the scene on London’s residential retrofit potential; large scale residential retrofitting in practice
• Commercial retrofit: Barriers and challenges to sustainable commercial retrofit; sustainable non-domestic retrofit in practice
• Circular economy: Decoupling growth form resource constraints; converting London’s waste inputs into valuable outputs
• Energy: Sustainable and green power in a low-carbon London; managing the demand side of London’s energy challenge
• Transport: Integrating personal and public transport; transport – the rise of green logistics
• Smart cities: Efficient, connected and integrated; London as a smart, integrated and connected city

This year’s event is free to attend for core-target Base London delegates, including senior managers in local or central government and the upstream parts of the construction, property and utilities industries.

Further details and booking…

You may also be interested in...

• Base Leeds City Region conference

The London Sustainable Development Commission (LSDC) is inviting applications for the 2012 London Leaders programme, aiming to recruit 15 London Leaders to deliver projects that demonstrate sustainability in action. The fifth annual generation of leaders since the programme’s launch in 2007 will run from June 2012 to May 2013.

A year in the life of the London Leaders

Past London Leaders have included working mums, chefs, teachers, musicians, business-owners and representatives of London’s football clubs, alongside fashion designer Wayne Hemmingway and 86-year-old Austrian Princess Lotti Henley.

Wayne Hemingway’s ‘pop up shop’ project provided free retail space for new London businesses, while Lotti Henley is the force behind the Planzheroes project to cut food waste through an online map that links up various providers of surplus food, such as cafes and restaurants, with recipients, such as charities feeding the homeless. Being a London Leader helped Lotti put her project on the map:

“Being selected as a Leader has given our cause a real boost. It’s been very inspiring to be part of a team of 15 individuals all with the common goal of making London a more sustainable and fairer place for everyone to live in. Food waste is something I am utterly passionate about and being a Leader has helped me fight for that issue to be heard.”

The experiences of other former London Leaders are explored in a short video from the LSDC:

One of the 2010 London Leaders, Richard Reynolds, spoke to SD Scene about his project to inspire sustainable cities at a very local level through guerilla gardening.

Inspiring positive change

The London Leaders programme was prompted by research showing that sustainability challenges are not solved by governments or corporations alone, but through strong leadership at every level, by people working together and by being empowered to take action. Providing individuals and their communities with the confidence, skills and support to make sustainable changes in their lives can lead to positive change.

Each London Leader commits to deliver a project that goes beyond ‘business as usual’ to bring about practical, positive change, exemplifying sustainable development in one or more of the following areas:

• Climate change and resource use;
• Local quality of life;
• Sustainable economy;
• Equal life chances for all.

By inspiring and catalysing positive change, the London Leaders help to build London’s capacity for leadership in sustainable development.

John Plowman, Chair of the LSDC, described the opportunity:

“This is someone’s chance to achieve something they might have dreamt about doing for a long time, and regardless of whether it’s running a local project in their own neighbourhood or tackling a London-wide issue, we want to hear about it. “Since starting the London Leaders programme in 2007, we’ve seen some amazing results, thanks to the dedication of the Londoners involved. The challenge now is making sure that London continues on its path towards the sustainability goal.”

Applications open now

Applications for the 2012 London Leaders programme are now open to applicants from all backgrounds and sectors – private, public, academic and the third sector, and individuals from local communities within the Greater London area. The closing date for applications is mid-day on Wednesday 11th April 2012. Shortlisted candidates will be notified in May 2012 and the successful candidates will be formally announced at our Annual Event in July 2012.

Further details are available from the London Sustainable Development Commission.

You may also be interested in...

• London 2012 sustainability lessons learned
• Eight new sustainability leaders for London

In Sight of the Finishing Line reviews London 2012′s preparations to meet the time-critical sustainability challenges facing the organisers of the ‘most sustainable Games to date’. The review, published by the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012, the independent body providing assurance on the social, economic and environmental sustainability of the Games, recommends areas for immediate improvement or action.

Overall, the Commission reports good progress in many areas of London 2012′s commitment to deliver a sustainable Olympic and Paralympic Games, with effective use of innovation in almost every area. The Commission finds evidence that London is on track to achieving the goal of being the most sustainable Games, such as the impressive work towards its zero waste commitment and the delivery of the food vision.

Sustainability management certification

The achievement of certification to BS 8901 – the British Standard specification for a sustainability management system for events – by the Games organising committee (LOCOG) and transport team (ODA Transport) is the first time any Olympic and Paralympic Games has achieved a standard like this and a first for any major international event. The GLA City Operations team, which is preparing London to host the Games, are also working towards certification.

Shaun McCarthy, Chair of the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012, said:

“We congratulate LOCOG on achieving certification to BS 8901 – an events management standard that will change the way future events are run – and the GLA City Operations for their work towards this standard. There has been excellent progress towards a sustainable Games – many of the day-to-day logistics are coming together nicely. But there is only one chance to get the Games right, and we’ve identified some significant gaps which need bridging.”

Remaining challenges

However, some major challenges remain to be fully addressed. Having failed to deliver 20% of the electricity for the Games from renewable resources, LOCOG undertook in early 2011 to deliver equivalent savings through energy conservation and the Commission has recommended that this is addressed urgently.

While all suppliers and commercial partners to the Games are expected to comply with LOCOG’s Sustainable Sourcing Code, the Commission has not yet been able to verify LOCOG’s assurance processes to ensure this is happening for the use of HFCs in cooling and refrigeration. The Commission is concerned that as LOCOG has not been able to provide assurance for this area so far, and that there may be equivalent issues in other areas like timber and PVC.

Another issue arises from areas where multiple organisations are involved, leading to a lack of clarity over responsibility for sustainability management.

Without clear coordination there is a risk that standards will vary considerably inside and outside venues, or even at different exits from the Olympic Park. For example, the Park’s exits lead into different boroughs, with different recycling bin policies, or exit into Westfield, which has its own recycling bin policy.

The Commission has attended the majority of the test events and was pleased with the overall site performance; providing feedback to the organisers where issues remain to be addressed.

Mr McCarthy expressed his hope that the Commission’s review would encourage great clarity and consistency:

“If the Games are going to make a sustainable contribution to the UK economy, we need to promote a clear, consistent view of sustainability. We hope that the list of recommendations we’ve put together acts as a constructive challenge for organisers and their contractors.”

Findings

Key findings of the review:

1. LOCOG has been certified to BS 8901 [the specification for a sustainability management system for events] and the GLA City Operations team is working toward certification. This is a significant achievement and is the first time a Games has achieved such a standard.
2. The Commission has seen good progress toward the challenging commitment to zero Games-time waste going to landfill, with at least 70% to be reused, recycled or composted.
3. LOCOG’s plans to deliver the food vision are developing well, with the main caterers on board and going out to the market for suppliers that can meet the requirements.
4. The Commission was not able to fully verify sound assurance processes within LOCOG for the use of HFC in cooling and refrigeration, to ensure that their Sustainable Sourcing Code will be complied with.
5. This has given the Commission concerns around the application of LOCOG’s assurance processes for other aspects of the Sustainable Sourcing Code such as timber and PVC.
6. There are challenges where there needs to be multiple organisations involved in meeting commitments and where there is not a traditional contractor–client relationship.
7. The GLA has appointed Live Nation as their Live Site operator and is pressing them to meet a range of London 2012 sustainability targets. The Commission recommends that they monitor and report on what they will meet, press them to meet commitments and set out the rationale for any areas where they will not.
8. The Commission accepted that it was not practicable for LOCOG to meet its target to have 20% renewable electricity at Games-time and that they would meet at least the equivalent carbon reduction through a reduction in energy use. Whilst LOCOG has several initiatives to reduce energy use, they do not have a clear energy conservation plan setting out how they will achieve this commitment.
9. The Commission has attended almost all test events so far and found a good level of performance on site with key issues being identified and managed or learnt from.
10. The test events have raised some concerns that the Commission has fed back to LOCOG. Key issues were the relative capacity of some contractors to manage sustainability issues and the challenges in getting good waste segregation.

Further reading

• In sight of the finishing line: Commission for a Sustainable London 2012′s full report available to download.

You may also be interested in...

• Working for a sustainable London 2012: in video
• London 2012 – A sustainable gold medal?
• Breaking the Tape: looking forward to a “uniquely sustainable” Games

Morden Hall Park, already a green oasis in a densely populated area of south west London, has just become even greener. On 5 November 2011 the National Trust opened a new Living Green Visitor Centre in the Park.

The refurbished stable yard at Morden Hall Park, with three types of solar panels (photo courtesy National Trust)

The centre is the culmination of the first phase of an exciting 2-year project to transform the park’s semi-derelict stable yard into a vibrant new visitor centre, combining the highest standards of restoration work with the latest energy-efficient technology. Supported by a £990,000 Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant, with additional support from European-funding, the project will provide a demonstration centre for those wanting to learn about sustainable technologies, and continue in its second year to provide a range of exciting volunteer, apprenticeship and education activities for people of all ages.

The £2.5 million project brings a key area of Morden Hall Park back to life. The local community has been heavily involved and the newly restored Victorian stable-block is expected to be the most energy-efficient historic building in the country.

It is part of the Livinggreen partnership of five different European countries receiving INTERREG IVB funding from the European Union – all five countries are carrying out eco-renovation projects and sharing best practice with each other, as well as with their own communities.

The Living Green centre at Morden Hall Park houses a permanent, interactive exhibition about sustainable green living and renewable energy, a temporary exhibition area (the first of which is about the Film Star parties which were held in the Park in the 1940s), National Trust offices, craft stalls for local artists and a small café.

Child playing with eco doll at the Living Green centre (photo courtesy National Trust)

Using leading sustainable technologies

The restored stable buildings are themselves an exemplar of sustainable renovation in an historic environment. They utilise three different types of solar panels, one of which is designed to blend in with the original roof tiles, an air source heat pump, a wood burning stove, six types of insulation (from cork to hemp to Spacetherm), intelligent membrane (to achieve a high standard of air tightness), MgO board instead of gypsum plasterboard, lime plaster, triple glazed doors, double glazing in the original windows and underfloor heating using recycled crushed brick plates. Giant rainwater harvesting tanks beneath the stable yard floor collect water to flush the toilets (except in one very innovative toilet, which has the wash basin built into the cistern). Recycled and natural materials have been used wherever possible, for example, glass collected in the Park has been made into beautiful toilet vanity tops, and the café chairs are each made from 111 recycled plastic Coca-Cola bottles.

A BREEAM “Excellent” rating is expected to be announced in the near future, a great achievement for a historic building.

National Trust property manager Zoë Colbeck explains the aim of the project:

“Incorporating energy-saving materials and devices into modern buildings is now common practice, but older buildings present many different challenges, especially when they are listed or in a conservation area. This pioneering project has given us a unique opportunity to restore our 19th century building in a way that meets the environmental challenges of the 21st century.

“The Living Green centre will be a source of ideas, information and inspiration to anyone who has an old home or building to renovate or maintain. We want to show people that green living can be incorporated sympathetically into historic buildings, and it can also be fun.”

Demonstrating best practice

The Living Green Centre has been designed not only to be energy-efficient but also to demonstrate best practice – among home owners, builders, architects, businesses, urban designers, council planners etc. Tours of the renovation works have taken place regularly throughout the last year of building developments, and weekend “taster day” workshops have been held for members of the public to find out more about each of the green technologies. The National Trust is currently working closely with the London Borough of Merton and the Merton Chamber of Commerce to promote the Centre to their staff and members, so that learning from the Centre can be shared as widely as possible, and innovative energy-saving technologies replicated elsewhere. Drop-in advice sessions are being held in the Centre, in partnership with local environmental charity, Sustainable Merton.

The coming months will also see the installation of an Archimedes Screw, a low head micro hydroelectric turbine in the River Wandle which flows through the Park – the first of its kind in London. The turbine will contribute further to the Park’s energy needs (providing 63,000 kWh each year), enabling the National Trust at Morden Hall Park to become totally self-sufficient.

Visiting the Living Green Centre

The Living Green exhibition is open to the public every day and entry is free; the café and craft stalls are open at weekends. Tours of the building for small groups can be arranged.

The Living Green Centre can be reached easily by sustainable means of transport – it is close to tube, tram and bus, and a Sustrans cycle route runs right past it. Find directions here…

Further reading

• Follow progress and keep up-to-date with the project’s events by signing up to the blog;
• Further details of sustainable technologies used at Morden Park (pdf).