29 January 2010
Olympics chief sees how the Northwest is building London
2012
Director General of the Government Olympic Executive, Jeremy
Beeton, had an opportunity to see first-hand how Northwest
businesses are helping to build the London 2012 Olympic Games, in a
visit to Greater Manchester yesterday (28th January 2010).
The Director General visited Leighs Paints, a Bolton-based
independent manufacturer of high-performance coatings, which has
supplied fire protection paint to five venues being built on the
Olympic Park: the Olympic Stadium, Aquatics Centre, International
Broadcast Centre and Main Press Centre, Handball Arena and
Basketball Arena. The company has also won a separate contract to
supply paint for the Stratford Village development.
As part of his tour, Mr Beeton was shown the process of
paint-making, met employees who worked directly on the Olympic
contracts, and was given a live demonstration of the company’s Fire
Test facility.
Leighs Paints’ Olympic Park contracts were secured through the
supply chain of Watson Steel, another Bolton firm which has seen
success in winning five contracts to supply steelwork for the same
venues.
The Director General’s visit follows news announced last week by
the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) that 114 Northwest
businesses have been successful in winning 165 London 2012-related
business contracts.
Steven Broomhead, NWDA Chief Executive, said:
“In the Northwest, the Agency is taking a lead in ensuring that
our businesses are equipped with the skills they need to compete
for, and win, contracts related to London 2012. We have had some
excellent success stories so far. Of course, it’s not just about
exploiting the opportunities leading up to the Games - having
stronger, healthier companies ultimately means greater long-term
business success, which is absolutely vital in moving the region
into sustainable economic recovery.”
Technical Director and soon to be MD of Leighs Paints, Gordon
Bell, said:
“The UK construction industry is currently under pressure and so
project wins such as the Olympics are highly valued by us, but not
just in terms of financial benefit. We feel very proud to have our
specialist coatings on such a prestigious project as the Olympics,
and would encourage any other Northwest business to compete for
work on the ‘CompeteFor’ website.”
As well as touring the facilities at Leighs Paints, the visit to
the region also included:
• The ‘GreenZone’ centre in Wythenshawe, one of 901 schools
and colleges in the Northwest registered with the London 2012 ‘Get
Set’ education programme
• Touring Manchester Aquatics Centre to see the upgraded gym
facilities put in place as a result of part of the training camp
agreement with Swimming Australia, which will see the squad train
in the city ahead of London 2012 and the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth
Games
• Meeting Bury-based company AquasureUK for a pool-side
demonstration of portable ice baths they supplied to the Australian
swimming team during their 2009 training camp ahead of the Rome
Swimming Championships
• The launch of SwimNorthWest, a new programme giving swimming
clubs in the Northwest the opportunity to access a 50m pool for
training their swimmers on a monthly basis.
-ends-
Notes to editors
• The Northwest is benefiting from London 2012 in a number
of ways:
- 5,575 Northwest businesses have registered to compete for
London 2012 contracts.
- 114 Northwest businesses have already won 165 Games-related
contracts.
- Teams from 17 countries have committed to train in the
Northwest ahead of London 2012.
- 901 schools are registered on the London 2012 Education
programme, Get Set, equating to over 500,000 young people having
the opportunity to be engaged and inspired by the Games.
- WE PLAY, the Northwest’s £10m cultural legacy programme
launched in 2009 and includes Lakes Alive, a programme of
world-class arts and performance events across Cumbria.
• Businesses interested in benefiting from London 2012
opportunities can find more information and sign up to CompeteFor
at www.competefor.com
For further information please contact Rachel Handford, PR Manager
on 01925 400237 or 07810 528449 or Rachel.Handford@nwda.co.uk
For urgent out of hours press enquiries please call 01925
400259.
For further information and to view all press releases visit us
at www.nwda.co.uk/press
The Northwest Regional Development Agency works to deliver
economic success in England’s Northwest by building the
competitiveness of businesses, people and places. Working
with partners, we are ensuring the region creates positive
sporting, social and economic benefits from the London 2012 Olympic
Games and Paralympic Games.