Olympic speakers join APM Conference line-up

The construction of the Olympic Park for the London 2012 Games is set to be one of the most successful megaprojects for a generation.

With the Big Build programme delivered a year ahead of the Games and delivered £1billion under budget the lessons learned will be of immense value, not only for the construction sector, but for the project and programme management profession as a whole.

The Association for Project Management is pleased to bolster the already impressive APM Conference speaker line up for 2012 with Simon Wright (pictured) , director of venues and infrastructure at the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and Dr. Andrew Davies from Imperial College Business School.

Taking place at a new venue on Wednesday 27th June, both Simon and Andrew will be speaking in a conference stream dedicated to the story of the London 2012 Olympic programme, just one month before the Games open in July. APM’s privileged position as an ODA Learning Legacy Partner means the conference programme offers a unique opportunity to engage with the experience and learn the lessons from the key people at the heart of delivering the Olympic programme.

Since 2006 Simon Wright has been responsible for the delivery of venues and infrastructure for the London 2012 Olympic Park, which puts him in an ideal position to share best practice from one of the most influential roles at the ODA.

This multi-billion pound major programme is transforming a 246 hectare derelict site of East London into a new park to host many of the London 2012 Olympic sports, as well as the Athletes’ Village, while providing a platform for a sustainable new city quarter for London after the Games. Simon; who has worked in many parts of the world including Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Egypt; is a chartered civil engineer with over 34 years experience in the industry and is a fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and an APM member. He started his career with Binnie & Partners (now Black and Veatch) and has worked for Mouchel Consulting and Arup where he ran the UK and Europe Project Management Division.

Dr. Andrew Davies is a reader in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group at Imperial College Business School where his research focuses on innovation in infrastructure projects and systems. Andrew is in the unique position to give his unbiased expert opinion on the vital techniques and processes used by all that were involved in constructing the Olympic Park. Andrew will showcase observations from Imperial College’s research study of the key factors underpinning the successful delivery of the programme of construction.

Andrew spoke at the inaugural event in APM’s learning legacy series where he said that “megaprojects often fail in terms of time, cost and quality. This is a project that was successful and we have looked into the reason for that success. We really want people to begin to look at the Olympics and learn from it.”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GfE0wve-So&list=PLABCDF8D32087A98C&index=5&feature=plpp_video

Simon and Andrew join Dr. Ed Hoffman, director of the NASA Academy, and Richard Noble, project director on the BLOODHOUND rocket and jet powered car, in the speaker line-up of The Art of the Possible themed programme.

Early bird rates for the APM Conference are now available – representing a saving of up to £178*. To ensure you don’t miss out you can book your place today.

*All prices are exclusive of VAT. Early bird rate available until 31st March 2012.