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Hangin' With ... AECOM Executive Vice President & Global Sports Leader Bill Hanway

Bill Hanway
BILL HANWAY is the exec VP and global sports leader at AECOM. The engineering firm, which was behind London's Olympic masterplan in '12, has taken its experience to Brazil to help deliver the country's upcoming Rio 2016 Olympics. Hanway spoke with SBD Global about improving Rio's infrastructure, legacy planning and the economic and cultural factors that are taken into account during the Olympic bid process.

On the differences and similarities between London 2012 and Rio 2016 ...
Bill Hanway: I think the foundation and the methodology are very similar in that whenever we look at major events sports planning, we also look at the same time at the transition masterplan, which is the period of time before or after the Games before the legacy plan comes to full fruition and the legacy plan itself. What this allows us to do is to balance the needs of each of these key components as we move through the planning process and to ensure that the investment that we’re making for the Games or the major sporting event translates as much as possible directly into the long-term legacy. So that foundational approach remained consistent between London and Rio. But of course, the major differences between the culture, the climate and physical conditions make it a very different game. I think one of the key differences of how we ended up working on Rio was that we worked for nine years on London. We’re starting the L.A. ’24 bid at the same period of time, so we’ll have nine years to work on that. But in Rio, we didn’t actually win the competition until July 2011 and we didn’t get the commission to do the work until really the end of 2011 or January 2012. So we had a very accelerated schedule to do the work. That requires some different approaches to the solution.

On economic and cultural contexts ...
Hanway: You have to look at the economic context of each of the conditions and the years in which the Games were won. London was in 2003 a global economy, carrying on its strong tradition of growth and success but then is hit in 2008 with the global financial meltdown, where a different approach had to be undertaken to complete some of the projects. Where there were some public/private projects planned out for the London Games, the outcome was that the private sector funding was not available and the public sector had to step in, and that certainly happened at the International Broadcasting Center and that happened in the Village as well as some other components of the Games. So that was the context for London. When we plan Games that span over seven to nine years, we always build in economic cycles and are aware of economic cycles. But you can’t make plans for something as drastic as 2008. … You then turn to Brazil and Rio, where they won the Games on the back of a booming economy where they were about to overtake the U.K. in terms of the GDP table, they were looking at nothing but optimism in the future, and even when we won the Games, there was an incredibly strong economy and a very stable political climate. We spent a lot of time working with the mayor on what his legacy goals were, and we still are to this day. Then of course the economy completely crashed, there were corruption scandals, the president gets impeached, the whole foundation of the economics changes. Now, in that context, we still have to hold the Games. … We’re creating a balanced community of residential, academic and social infrastructure, commercial, retail and public open space, all of which is an important part of what this neighborhood represents. So that is still firmly established, but the change will likely be the time in which that delivery occurs. If the plan was originally for 10 years, it maybe just extends for another 10 years in terms of the final delivery package. That will all be based on how the economy stabilizes and how the policy stabilizes.

On Olympic innovations ...
Hanway: I think it’s interesting that although Agenda 2020 wasn’t part of the planning process for Rio, the premises and concepts and the transformation of the IOC was already taking place. There was an understanding that the historic model needed to evolve from one where it’s dominated by meeting every sporting federation's requirements all the time and to the maximum requirement, which without question has caused some of the challenges that we’ve seen in previous Olympics where you have venues that are no longer in use or are built to a capacity that is not relevant to even world championships in terms of size and scale. That produces capital costs that are very high versus what the outcome could be. I think the awareness that venues had to change and the approach to venues had to change. I know that you’ve already written about the temporary venues -- but that evolution was one of the critical stages of change that occurred from London where Wilkinson Eyre had done a beautiful job at designing the basketball venue. But that venue could be taken down and moved somewhere else, but it couldn’t be reused. So in terms of the handball arena, that is going to be taken apart and be able to be delivered for four primary schools. That concept was established very firmly by the mayor who was looking at, how do you take the advantages inherent in hosting the Games and the capital funding that will flow from that decision and how do you channel it into a legacy that is not just won on paper, but actually delivers in the short-term and long-term. I think that has evolved and provided innovative thinking in terms of the overall process.

On the evolution of Olympic facilities ...


Hanway: I think you’ll see two things evolving. We have the privilege of having worked on Tokyo for the past couple of years already. The initial stages, we’ve been working already with the Los Angeles 2024 bid for the past two years, and I think those two cities are fully embracing Agenda 2020 and the approach. So it’s not just about what the use of temporary venues are, but then also how you can take greater advantage of your existing facilities, how can you lower the cost overall of staging the Games and how you can reduce the sort of unsustainability footprint by that process. That makes its way almost all the way to Los Angeles where we’re now looking at a plan where 97 percent of the venues are either existing or temporary and if we continue down that path, I think you’ll see cities bidding where you’re almost entirely using existing venues or temporary ones in order to host those events at the Games, but also to adjust economically to the pressures of hosting these Games.

On temporary construction ...
Hanway: Modular construction is advancing at a rapid rate. Whether they’re steel-plated seating bowls that could be removed and reused, whether it’s steel structures that are from steel sections that can be reused and external materials that can be adapted and reconstructed for other uses … the list goes on and on in terms of the evolution of those elements. Now, I know that there are economists that look at that whole package and say, you can possibly deliver a new school at a cheaper rate than reusing the temporary venues, but you have to put into play the cost of the land, the cost of assembly, the sustainability impact of getting rid of the material that’s used for temporary venues. So when you balance things out, there’s a real benefit to looking at how you can translate sporting venues into other uses.

On improvements to Rio’s infrastructure ...
Hanway: The city is arguably one of the most beautiful in the world and that stems a lot from the geological context and geological structure of the city, which means you have mountains and rainforests crashing into beautiful beaches and water. That makes for a wonderful place to visit and experience. But clearly, it makes it very hard for a city to eagerly expand. Every time you have to build a tunnel, the cost of that expansion increases. We have not been specifically responsible for any of the transportation or infrastructure improvements in the broader city context, but the Olympics themselves, and certainly our site out in Barra, has triggered a greater impetus and focus on being able to deliver those transportation improvements. Since we started the project, the development and completion of the bus rapid transit system, the BRT, is already in place and operational. The mayor has just made two major announcements in terms of the new highway that connects across to Barra to the west and the opening of the new metro line from Ipanema and Copacabana beach up to Barra and the transit interchange there. So I think what we’re seeing is the positive benefits that the IOC has always interpreted as why a city should host the Games, which is a rationale to accelerate and deliver public transport improvements which then has a long-term and positive impact on a city. That is all going ahead and in place.

On his outlook for Rio 2016…
Hanway: We all know that there’s been a huge amount of negative publicity around the Games. Every major sports federation is challenged at a number of different levels. I still am very optimistic that the Rio Games are going to be a success. I’m personally going to be there for all 21 days of the Games and I certainly look forward to every single aspect of that. As much as there are challenges right now, I also think that Rio and the cariocas can throw a great party and it will be a great celebration. I think that that is certainly part of it. The whole positive nature of great athletes performing amazing sporting feats, many of whom have overcome challenges in their lifetime to achieve their goals, is still one of the greatest spectacles and is one of the reasons why I so love my job.

Hangin' With runs each Friday in SBD Global.

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