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Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #1158 FEATURE
SNOWMAKING RESERVOIR TO BE FIRST LOWER MAINLAND CONSTRUCTION PROJECT –-
AND FIRST STEP IN CYPRESS BOWL VENUE WORK
The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) will test the volatile waters of the Lower Mainland's construction climate this fall with its first construction project in the Greater Vancouver area -- a small reservoir and pumping station on Cypress Mountain.
Up to now, VANOC's construction work has been focused on the Whistler area and has so far involved only earth-moving and clearing that has reportedly come in roughly on budget. The main construction contracts for those areas aren't expected to be sought until the first quarter of next year. It has maintained that the high and volatile construction budgets seen elsewhere in BC involve concrete-and-rebar type projects.
The Cypress Mountain ski area, atop the mountain range that marks the North Shore area of Vancouver, is to be used for skiing and snowboard competitions. These competitions will include moguls and aerials, freestyle skiing events, half pipe, snowboarder cross and parallel giant-slalom snowboard events. The location offers a spectacular vista of Greater Vancouver, and it can be easily seen my most areas of the Greater Vancouver area.
Meanwhile, Morgan:News:2010 has now confirmed that VANOC plans to install a significant snow-making capacity at Cypress Bowl, the studies for which were underway well before last winter's unseasonably warm and wet weather in Lower Mainland.
The mild weather conditions in January and February prompted a snowstorm of reporters' questions to VANOC CEO John Furlong and the president of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, who was visiting at the time, about what VANOC or the IOC would do if similar conditions affected the Games in February and March of 2010. Both simply replied that snowmaking would be considered if necessary.
VANOC has begun asking engineers who might be interested in designing the 20,000-cubic-metre reservoir and supervising its construction this fall and winter to submit proposals to VANOC by September 15. Since this project will be used well after the Winter Games, VANOC is working with the owners of the mountain ski area, Cypress Bowl Resort Limited Partnership (CBRLP), and both VANOC and CBRLP will be supervising the project.
The consulting contract VANOC is offering in connection with the project is also notable for two general aspects that appear to be models for future consulting contracts. In one part it details, for the first time, a requirement that proponents have team-building and conflict-resolutions skills or training. It has also noted that besides the routine language that allows the RCMP to do security checks on anybody connected to the proponent's firm, additional language has been added that specifically allows for detailed Criminal Code checks that may be done on anybody that goes onto a VANOC construction site as part of a work crew.
IT'S SNOW USE
As for the snowmaking plans: VANOC studies indicate it would probably require about 45 snowmaking guns to produce enough snow to cover 15.5 hectares of Cypress Bowl to a depth of about 1 metre to 1.4 metres, depending on the event, plus a secondary training area of another five hectares, which would only be covered once the main areas had been covered. The original study said that amount of snow would cover the snowboarding and freestyle aerial areas. That's a total of 176,000 cubic metres of snow that would be required, and in a tough scenario, where the temperature is only about three degrees Celsius below zero, about half of that snow would have to be produced within 200 hours: about eight days.
On the other hand, the reservoir consulting contract calls for coverage of only the snowboarding areas -- 10.5 hectares, plus the five-hectare training area (the location of which hasn't yet been identified, but this is expected shortly, as a detailed survey of the area is just now being completed). The reason for the discrepancy is not yet clear.
The water for the snowmaking, if it's needed, would be pumped from Cypress Creek from a location near the Day Lodge, at a rate of up to nearly 1,000 litres per hour, to the main pumping station and form there to either the reservoir or the snow guns, when they begin operation.
The earth-banked reservoir, which will have a thick plastic lining, is to be built in an old gravel yard that has been used previously; the construction area would take up about two hectares but the reservoir itself won't be nearly that big by the time it's installed. The reservoir itself will be about 50 meters by 130 meters and six meters deep.
Four turbine pumps capable of delivering up to 2,840 litres per hour would move the water from the reservoir or creek, when the snow guns are in operations. Water-use licenses from the BC Government will be required as part of the overall project's environmental review process.
The snow guns themselves have not yet been commissioned, but it's expected they would be fully automatic fan types, as they're currently the quietest and most energy-efficient, with about three-quarters of them expected to be mounted on towers. A separate electrical system, with redundant components, to power the guns will also need to be installed.
TEAMWORK REQUIRED
As for the new teamwork section of the consulting contract, VANOC says it wants consultants to understand the importance that VANOC places on teamwork. As a result it says, "The consultant must demonstrate:
Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 31, 2005
Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1157
Here are three moguls we ran into today:
Own the Podium RECRUITMENT CAMPS SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCH
Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 31, 2005
Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #1158 FEATURE
SNOWMAKING RESERVOIR TO BE FIRST LOWER MAINLAND CONSTRUCTION PROJECT –-
AND FIRST STEP IN CYPRESS BOWL VENUE WORK
The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) will test the volatile waters of the Lower Mainland's construction climate this fall with its first construction project in the Greater Vancouver area -- a small reservoir and pumping station on Cypress Mountain.
Up to now, VANOC's construction work has been focused on the Whistler area and has so far involved only earth-moving and clearing that has reportedly come in roughly on budget. The main construction contracts for those areas aren't expected to be sought until the first quarter of next year. It has maintained that the high and volatile construction budgets seen elsewhere in BC involve concrete-and-rebar type projects.
The Cypress Mountain ski area, atop the mountain range that marks the North Shore area of Vancouver, is to be used for skiing and snowboard competitions. These competitions will include moguls and aerials, freestyle skiing events, half pipe, snowboarder cross and parallel giant-slalom snowboard events. The location offers a spectacular vista of Greater Vancouver, and it can be easily seen my most areas of the Greater Vancouver area.
Meanwhile, Morgan:News:2010 has now confirmed that VANOC plans to install a significant snow-making capacity at Cypress Bowl, the studies for which were underway well before last winter's unseasonably warm and wet weather in Lower Mainland.
The mild weather conditions in January and February prompted a snowstorm of reporters' questions to VANOC CEO John Furlong and the president of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, who was visiting at the time, about what VANOC or the IOC would do if similar conditions affected the Games in February and March of 2010. Both simply replied that snowmaking would be considered if necessary.
VANOC has begun asking engineers who might be interested in designing the 20,000-cubic-metre reservoir and supervising its construction this fall and winter to submit proposals to VANOC by September 15. Since this project will be used well after the Winter Games, VANOC is working with the owners of the mountain ski area, Cypress Bowl Resort Limited Partnership (CBRLP), and both VANOC and CBRLP will be supervising the project.
The consulting contract VANOC is offering in connection with the project is also notable for two general aspects that appear to be models for future consulting contracts. In one part it details, for the first time, a requirement that proponents have team-building and conflict-resolutions skills or training. It has also noted that besides the routine language that allows the RCMP to do security checks on anybody connected to the proponent's firm, additional language has been added that specifically allows for detailed Criminal Code checks that may be done on anybody that goes onto a VANOC construction site as part of a work crew.
IT'S SNOW USE
As for the snowmaking plans: VANOC studies indicate it would probably require about 45 snowmaking guns to produce enough snow to cover 15.5 hectares of Cypress Bowl to a depth of about 1 metre to 1.4 metres, depending on the event, plus a secondary training area of another five hectares, which would only be covered once the main areas had been covered. The original study said that amount of snow would cover the snowboarding and freestyle aerial areas. That's a total of 176,000 cubic metres of snow that would be required, and in a tough scenario, where the temperature is only about three degrees Celsius below zero, about half of that snow would have to be produced within 200 hours: about eight days.
On the other hand, the reservoir consulting contract calls for coverage of only the snowboarding areas -- 10.5 hectares, plus the five-hectare training area (the location of which hasn't yet been identified, but this is expected shortly, as a detailed survey of the area is just now being completed). The reason for the discrepancy is not yet clear.
The water for the snowmaking, if it's needed, would be pumped from Cypress Creek from a location near the Day Lodge, at a rate of up to nearly 1,000 litres per hour, to the main pumping station and form there to either the reservoir or the snow guns, when they begin operation.
The earth-banked reservoir, which will have a thick plastic lining, is to be built in an old gravel yard that has been used previously; the construction area would take up about two hectares but the reservoir itself won't be nearly that big by the time it's installed. The reservoir itself will be about 50 meters by 130 meters and six meters deep.
Four turbine pumps capable of delivering up to 2,840 litres per hour would move the water from the reservoir or creek, when the snow guns are in operations. Water-use licenses from the BC Government will be required as part of the overall project's environmental review process.
The snow guns themselves have not yet been commissioned, but it's expected they would be fully automatic fan types, as they're currently the quietest and most energy-efficient, with about three-quarters of them expected to be mounted on towers. A separate electrical system, with redundant components, to power the guns will also need to be installed.
TEAMWORK REQUIRED
As for the new teamwork section of the consulting contract, VANOC says it wants consultants to understand the importance that VANOC places on teamwork. As a result it says, "The consultant must demonstrate:
- The understanding of close client contact and communication;
- The commitment to listen attentively to client directives;
- The willingness to provide responsive service;
- The requirement for appropriately timed actions as directed by the client;
- The ability to facilitate collective consensus building;
- The training to deal with conflict resolution;
- The importance of good anticipation;
- The necessity for clear and direct communication with, and coordination of, sub-consultants; and
- A complete appreciation of teamwork."
Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 31, 2005
Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1157
Here are three moguls we ran into today:
Own the Podium RECRUITMENT CAMPS SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCH
- One of the main fundraising arms of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) involves the Own the Podium program, designed to push Canada to be the top medal winner at the 2010 Winter Games. One of the main programs of Own the Podium is The Recruitment Program, in which potential medal-winners are identified for support. The Recruitment Program also has a function that involves, as the Americans and Australians have been doing for some years now, finding athletes from other sports with skills that may help them excel in speed-skating, bobsleigh, skeleton, snowboarding and freestyle skiing. That's because officials think there's probably not enough existing talent in the various sports pipelines that can produce the magic number of 35 medals for Canada at the 2010 Games. The first camp to identify these types of 18-and-older athletes has been held, in Calgary, and, according to organizers, was surprisingly successful all around. Program manager Jacques Thibault -- who says he earlier recruited some Cirque du Soleil performers for freestyle, noting they only took a few days to work out the flips but are still having trouble with the landings -- has ended up with about 50 first-cut athletes out of about 100 who started at the camp. Those 50 include gymnasts, divers, or hockey players, cyclists and rowers, all trying out for speed-skating. They've all got a lot more work to do, he says, but then there's more than four years to do it. There's another recruitment camp set for November.
CLOWN HUMOUR MARKETS 2010 OLYMPIC POTENTIAL - Meanwhile, 34-year-old Nicolas Fontaine, who runs the Water Ramp Training Centre in Lac Beauport, Quebec, is also doing his best to identify and train potential athletes for the 2010 Olympics in freestyle skiing. Fontaine is a four-time Olympian with a silver medal from the 1992 Winter Games, and a four-time World Cup gold medallist. He's retired from that, but now does a professional clowning exhibition under the name The Flying Canucks. He talks to youngsters afterwards who wonder how they can do the kinds of aerial tricks in his performance. They're usually gymnasts who have Olympic dreams, he says, and he's able to point them in the right directions for 2010 training.
NIKE R&D FOCUSSING ON 2010 OLYMPIC HOCKEY - If you're wondering whether it's only athletes, VANOC and their sponsors that are doing things now to get ready for the 2010 Winter Olympics, feggudabouit. Bauer Nike's worldwide president and CEO Chris Zimmerman, who was in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, earlier this month for a sports function, says his company is working, today, on the R&D for equipment the athletes will be wearing at the 2010 Games, such as skates. "That's how far out there we're working on new ideas," he says. "We have raised the bar significantly as far as bringing the weight down, [improving] the fit profile and really developing a radically new way to manufacture new skates." The work stems from the company's decision to start making hockey supplies, such as composite sticks, and uniforms, into which the firm is also pouring R&D money. "We've built off of that -- learning from speed skating, track-and-field and cycling -- to what we think we have created: a revolutionary uniform."
Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 31, 2005
