Morgan:News:2010:Bronze Edition: April 2007

Monday, April 30, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |General| #2281
FOUR HOST FIRST NATIONS FIRST OFF THE BLOCK WITH 2010 PAVILION CONSTRUCTION PROCESS

The Four Host First Nations Secretariat (FHFN), the organization representing the four aboriginal bands officially taking part in the 2010 Winter Games, has become the first to start the formal part of the construction process that will lead to a 2010 pavilion in downtown Vancouver.

The secretariat has begun the search for a group of professionals to construct the pavilion, which may take the shape of a native village comprised of several buildings within an 1,858-square metre (20,000 square-foot) useable space, possibly two storeys, likely in the new Cultural Precinct being created in Vancouver near the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. But it's a snap call: the invitations for professionals - there are six of them -- were issued today, but require a response by Wednesday.

The professionals are asked to present their credentials before being shortlisted and given a formal Request for Proposals, include architects, consulting chefs, event programs, interpretive-display consultants, retail consultants and sustainability experts.

The 2010 Games are taking place on the traditional territories of the Lil'wat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh tribes, which are all part of a larger family group called the Coast Salish. Although nominally representative at the Games of all aboriginal groups in Canada, and elsewhere attending the Games, the pavilion design and feel would primarily focus on the Coast Salish and the Salish tribal groups in the southern Interior of BC, as well as Metis, a group primarily located in Manitoba that grew out of intermarriage between French settlers and area aboriginals in the late 1800s. There is scant mention, for instance, of a focus on Inuit, who are located in Canada's northern regions, or the wide swath of aboriginal tribes across Canada outside of British Columbia.

The FHFN hopes to have the pavilion ready by about the summer of 2009. The buildings would be designed and constructed to be transportable to other locations after the 2010 Games are over, in March of 2010.

FHFN officials have been talking about creating the pavilion for about two years, but it's taken the time to get the organization started and funding issues sorted out with senior levels of government and, potentially, corporate sponsors.

Here's what FHFN officials envision:

A "Great Hall" that would be themed around First Nations and be large enough to host banquets and receptions for between 150 and 200 people, and be flexible enough that it could be divided into smaller spaces as needed for sponsor- or government-hosted events. When not reserved for special functions, the "Great Hall" would be open to the public as the FHFN hope to have various types of aboriginal displays and exhibits

A "Feast House" -- a restaurant that would provide seated meals to the general public for lunch and dinner, as well as cater private and public events hosted in the Great Hall, which is envisioned for the moment as adjoining it;

A "Theatre," with stadium-style seating for about 150; and,

A "Business Centre" that would provide meeting rooms and a small number of offices.

The intent is to design pavilion complex so that it looks similar to the traditional buildings used in southern British Columbia for thousands of years, the Coast Salish "Longhouse" and the Interior Salish "Pit House."

The FHFN wants to create a retail program that will run in the pavilions that "in part" shows off Coast and Interior Salish, other tribes in Canada, Inuit and Métis cultures.

It also wants an outline of approaches to the retail concepts "in an innovative, original and adaptable ways" to celebrate aboriginal culture, both by programming and delivery. They want to know the processes used during the Retail program's development and implementation and the consultant's general retail experience, but highlighting expertise with product delivery, particularly from aboriginal cultures.

The approach is almost exactly the same with the other consultants and professionals. The FHFN also plans to give more weight to firms, partnerships of organizations that have experience with aboriginals, either as employees, clients or partners.

RESOURCES

Some of the previous stories we've written about the aboriginal pavilion:

'BC still mulling aboriginal pavilion for 2010 Games'
[Morgan:News:2010:Number:2251; Published on Thursday, April 12, 2007]

'Aboriginal longhouse pavilion, with sponsors, contemplated for Vancouver 2010 Olympics'
[Morgan:News:2010:Number:1658; Published on Thursday, May 11, 2006]

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 30, 2007

Friday, April 27, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Business
Government| #2280
TOURISM VANCOUVER, CITY OF VANCOUVER COMPLETE PROTOCOL ON 2010 TOURISM MARKETING STRATEGY

The City of Vancouver and Tourism Vancouver have developed a formal protocol on how they'll work together on marketing Vancouver as a Host City of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The protocol, which is in effect until June 30, 2010, is a coordination document, rather than a formal agreement or commitment of either entity. It outlines the kinds of projects the two will focus on, leaving it up to each to organize the resources and deal with contracts.

Dave Rudberg, head of the City's Olympic office, reports, "In our discussions with Tourism Vancouver, a number of cooperative initiatives have been identified which will assist in maximizing the tourism benefits with the available resources. [The] Collaboration Protocol establishes the means for both parties to work together more effectively on these initiatives." It's the second similar arrangement reached between the City and Tourism Vancouver in recent days; the first involved development of a separate Cultural Tourism Strategy that's related to the 2010 Games because of its cultural mission, but is more wide ranging.

There are general concepts in the first part of the protocol [see BACKGROUND, below], while the second part deals with some specifics. For instance, when the Games are running, Rudberg says tourists to Vancouver will generate a large demand for information on the City, its attractions, visitor services, Olympic and Paralympic Games and the like. Tourism Vancouver is proposing to develop some 2010-themed kiosks to provide some of that information; the City can help by locating these kiosks at key locations on City property.

The City's also about to do the work necessary to update its directional and street sign systems, particularly in the downtown core, as part of its preparation for the influx of tourism connected with the Games; Rudberg expects Tourism Vancouver to help out with design and placement ideas. Work has begun on how the City and Tourism Vancouver can promote the City from the BC pavilion at next year's Beijing Summer Games, and there's also work underway between the City, Tourism Vancouver and 2010 Legacies Now to deal with various accessibility issues in the hospitality industry that stem from the 2010 Paralympics.

Rudberg indicates other protocols are in the offing. "There are a number of agencies which have tourism responsibility and it is important to have their goals and objectives aligned," he reports. Tourism Vancouver has been meeting with its counter parts of Tourism BC, the Canadian Tourism Commission, Tourism Whistler and Tourism Richmond, with a similar idea of coordinating 2010-related marketing.

The objectives of the protocol, according to Rudberg, are to create "great Games, being the best possible Host City and telling our story to the world. In this way, we can collectively maximize the tourism benefits by establishing Vancouver as a premier global destination." The protocol, he says, makes it easier to "coordinate complementary branding and develop shared messaging that raises the profile of Vancouver in key markets due to increased exposure from the 2010 Games," and for both organizations to be more effective and efficient in connected 2010 and "visitor experience, marketing, events, communications, and research."

The protocol suggests the two organizations will meet each year about the end of June to review how things are going and what adjustments have to be made.

BACKGROUND

Here are the general concepts of the protocol:

Sharing of information that is relevant to the successful hosting of the Games and creating a positive visitor experience
• Best practice's guide for tourism and general businesses
• Visitor (and/or other) guides and way-finding (online and offline)
• Servicing of visitors during Games period
• Advertising in core markets
• New marketing initiatives
• Sales missions and 2010 themed sales events
• Media relations activities
• Central clearing house for off-site hospitality requirements for VANOC stakeholders
• Sponsor relationship building
• Programs and themes for activities within the public realm
• Visitor accommodation services

==

Here is the full set of specific actions coordinated by the protocol:

Specific tactical elements of the plan include but are not limited to the following:

Affirm Tourism Vancouver's official status as primary supplier of visitor services by facilitating both temporary and permanent locations for dispensing information and services during the Games period. Tourism Vancouver to provide staffing, operations, training and management

Consultations with Tourism Vancouver on the City's way-finding study and collaboration on consistent execution of way-finding which is primarily directed towards pedestrians in the downtown area

Collaboration on the preparation of information materials for visitors and residents during the Games period

Exploration of joint initiatives in the training of volunteers and City staff in preparation for the 2010 Winter Games

Investigate the development and delivery of an "Invite the World" e-marketing campaign which leverages the City's status as Host City for the 2010 Winter Games

Permit Tourism Vancouver's use of the "Host City" Mark in various marketing material as approved by the City of Vancouver (and VANOC/IOC where required)

Consult on ways to develop a coordinated response to the opportunities presented by the Beijing Summer Games to promote Vancouver

Jointly contribute to "Vancouver Stories" which provides material to the media on our values, culture, history and people with coordination lead by Corporate Communications

Communicate timely and relevant 2010 information about the other Party to the stakeholders of each Party (e.g. residents, members) where appropriate

Identify sponsorship opportunities which could be pursued in support of joint initiatives to offset costs or leverage marketing resources for 2010 initiatives, as approved by the City (and VANOC/IOC where required)

Further develop 2010 opportunities for the Arts and Culture sector as per the Partnership created between Tourism Vancouver and the City (Office of Cultural Affairs)

Work together to develop accessibility criteria for businesses as well as collaborating on a product service guide to assist businesses in upgrading their premises to accessibility standards by Games time. A visual rating system would be explored to assist visitors in identifying levels of accessibility.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 27, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2279

Here are three moguls we ran into today:
PACE OF VANOC OVERLAY DESIGN TO PICK UP SOON

VANOC is expected to expand work on designs for its venue overlays in the next few weeks. The overlays are applied to each venue starting in late 2009 for the most part, to turn them into places that will look and feel like the Olympics, as well as incorporate a number of VANOC functions, such as security, broadcasting, ticketing and accreditation.

IOC TO MEET IN VANCOUVER IN LATE 2009

The IOC president Jacques Rogge has made, and VANOC CEO John Furlong has accepted, the traditional suggestion that the IOC executive hold a meeting hosted by the 2010 organization in Vancouver in late 2009, a few weeks before the start of the Games. The invitation/acceptance formality was exchanged in Beijing yesterday after Furlong reported on the status of the 2010 preparations to the IOC executive committee meeting underway there. The official statement from the IOC is that everything's doing fine with VANOC, although they have a few unspecified "challenges."

SOLUTIONS NEEDED TO OFFSET DECLINE IN SPORTS' RELEVANCE TO YOUTH

Quote without comment: "Coming not far behind on the list of challenges we face today, is the growing trend in sport's decline in relevance. In a world where so many other temptations and leisure activities compete for young people's attention, the appeal of sport finds itself under question. We have a duty to find solutions to this issue. Why? For two key reasons; first, in order to shift young people away from a sedentary way of life towards an active lifestyle, and thereby tackle the frightening increase in obesity amongst many populations. Second, because the values sport can teach -- friendship, respect, and excellence -- are arguably more important than ever in today's world. It is our duty to make sport an inspiration, to help young people discover why sport matters. Sport is a social movement that has the power to offer young people the chance of a better and more meaningful life. By collaborating around the same vision, the sports bodies and governments can play a meaningful role in ensuring that generations, young and old, have a healthier and more wholesome lifestyle based on physical activity and physical education. Let us all focus our energies in this direction." -- IOC president Rogge, speaking to hundreds of people at an international sports conference, Sport Accord, in Beijing, China, yesterday.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 27, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2278

Here are three moguls we ran into today:
VANCOUVER OLYMPIC VILLAGE WATERFRONT LANDSCAPING TO COST C$12.2 MILLION

Wilco Landscape Contractors of Edmonton is expected to be handed a C$12.2 million contract by the City of Vancouver's Property Endowment Fund on Tuesday to reconstruct and landscape the waterfront in front of the city's Olympic Athlete Village. The money for the firm, which also has a Greater Vancouver office in the suburb of Surrey, would come from a C$14-million fund expected to be created on Tuesday as well (The extra C$1.8 million is to cover federal and provincial taxes, which bring the total to about C$13.7 million.) The City only received one other bid, for C$17 million, from JJM Construction, of Delta, a Greater Vancouver suburb. The work involves a continuation of the walkway that follows the False Creek waterfront, soft and hard landscaping, granite seating blocks, a pedestrian bridge across a small inlet in front of the Village, along with a timber walkway around it, viewing platforms at the shoreline edge, a footbridge across the wetland in the Hinge Park area just to the west of the Village, some temporary connections to the existing waterfront pathway while construction work is underway, various architectural features, and lighting. It includes excavation, backfill, concrete unit pavers, plant material, timber decking, handrails, asphalt, steel beams and pipe piles, pedestrian bridge fabrication and erection, precast and cast-in-place concrete. About 80% of the waterfront will be constructed during Phase 1, from May to October. The remainder will be done in 2009, after the buildings on the development parcels north of Athletes Way have been constructed. It is expected that the waterfront will be opened to the public late this year. Two of VANOC's social goals is to include aboriginal participation in the development of the Games, and boosting Games development from businesses in a couple of poor parts of Vancouver. About C$250,000 of gravel is to be supplied to Wilco by an aboriginal gravel company, and one site administrative position to be filled with a person from an aboriginal band, and "three to four" labourer positions for about five months will be provided by an unidentified "inner-city business." Intriguingly, The "surface treatments and waterfront structures" will be under a two-year warranty to be provided by the Southeast False Creek and Olympic Village Project Office.

VANCOUVER STAFF SUGGEST MORE COMMUNITY INFO FOR 2010 CELEBRATIONS

Dave Rudberg, the general manager of the City of Vancouver's Olympic and Paralympic Operations Office, will be reporting to council next Tuesday about the possibility of increasing community involvement in celebrating the 2010 Winter Games over the next few years. He's making the comments as VANOC is planning to spend the first part of May doing various things as it leads up to noting the 1,000 day mark, May 19, before the Opening Ceremony of the Games. Planning is underway, Rudberg reports, for a "Host City Village display" at the annual Pacific National Exhibition, although funding isn't yet set up for that or a number of other things the city might do, thanks to a political split within council. The City, along with the BC and federal governments, plus some of VANOC's official sponsors, suggests Rudberg, are proposing to establish an area during the popular PNE "where the public can learn more about the Games." That's the most elaborate of possible things to do this year, however. Others include developing a portable kiosk that can go from mall to mall, soliciting public input on what might happen, or a web page or two with a questionnaire on the city's website. It also appears that the City has been offered the possibility by VANOC of having the Torch Relay -- which starts about 100 days before the Opening Ceremony and will travel internationally, across Canada and BC and through Whistler, West Vancouver and Richmond before arriving in Vancouver in early February -- travel through some of the City's major neighbourhoods before it ends up at BC Place stadium in downtown Vancouver. But whether it does, and through which neighbourhoods, depends to an extent on where the City wants it to go. The city earlier canvassed about 40 community-centre staff about things they'd like to see promoted to help them leverage the Olympics in their area. Rudberg says he'll report back to council in about six months on further plans. The city is also planning a large Live Site in the city's planned cultural precinct leading up to and during the Games. The Live Site will be incorporated within about a city block's worth of property near the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. "The vision is to program the Live Site with cultural and recreational activities, a large screen to watch live broadcasts of the Games competitions, as well as live stage entertainment. The purpose of the Live Site is to give residents and visitors the opportunity to participate in, and experience the 2010 Winter Games at no cost." Various other Live Sites have been funded by the BC government in various BC communities during the last two years.

COKE TO CO-SPONSOR 2010 TORCH RELAY

As expected, the Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) confirms it will sponsor the Olympic Torch Relay for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. In fact it has agreed to sponsor the relays for all Olympic Games until 2020, including the one next year in Beijing. The firm, based in Atlanta, said it has been the longest corporate sponsor of the Olympics, dating back to 1928 (in Canada, the Royal Bank started supporting the Games in 1947). Coca-Cola has been involved with the torch relays, which are sponsored separately from the Games themselves, since 1996. Starting March 2008, the Beijing Olympic Flame will travel through at least 19 cities around the world. It will then travel throughout mainland China before arriving in Beijing in August. Coca-Cola, at least for 2008, will be co-sponsoring with Samsung and Lenovo, the Chinese-owned desktop and laptop computer company. All three companies are worldwide partners of the International Olympic Committee and sponsors of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, but only Lenovo has not yet confirmed if it will sponsor the 2010 Games in any capacity. Coca-Cola says it will modify its global advertising campaign slogan "Coke Side of Life" in all marketing communications for the Beijing Olympic Games to "Live Olympic on the Coke Side of Life."

RESOURCES

Art Maat - Vice President
Wilco Landscape Contractors
13540 156 Street
Edmonton, AB T5V 1L3
Phone (Direct): 780.699.4056
Phone (Main): 780.447.1199
Fax: 780-447-2330
E-Mail: ArtMaat@Wilco.ca
www.wilco.ca/index2.htm

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 27, 2007

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2277
LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT RFP EXPECTED TO OUTSOURCE MAJOR 2010 OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENT

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) has decided to contract out one of its key management systems, and is expected to shortly issue an Request for Proposals (RFP) for running its logistics.

The core purposes of VANOC logistic-management system are to "accurately and efficiently manage the planning, allocation, distribution and asset tracking of equipment and materials required to stage the Games."

Once the RFP is posted, companies are expected to have until early June to read through the lengthy documentation, and file their equally detailed response with VANOC. Whatever firm wins the contract will be intimately working with a wide range of VANOC personnel, consultants and volunteers for about three years.

The system has be up, running smoothly and well tested by next March. In 2008 and 2009, VANOC will literally be spending millions of dollars on hundreds of thousands of individual items, materials and equipment to help it run the Games. It involves all of its consumables, furniture, fixtures and equipment, machinery, tents and portable structures, overlay, all the technology pieces, sport equipment, medical, ceremonial items -- all sorts of things.

They'll be stored in a number of locations around the Greater Vancouver area and Whistler as they arrive by truck, boat, train (via VANOC sponsor CPR) and plane (via sponsor Air Canada) from around the world, During late part of 2009 and the early weeks of 2010, all of those assets will be hauled out and assembled into place around all of the competition and non-competition venues. During the Games, thousands of people will be handling them, moving them, using them, taking them up, taking them down and replacing them. Following the Games, they all have to be recovered and returned to the warehouses, so they can later be sold, given away or auctioned.

It's the job of the logistics-management system, essentially a sophisticated SQL-style database that VANOC wants running on a Microsoft operating system, to keep track of all that. It will be used to ensure the assets are "identified, ordered, received, allocated, delivered, recovered, and disposed of in the most efficient means, while tracking cost and timeframes." It will also have to deal with lost or damaged inventory, and have automatic backordering functions. The cost-tracking will need to show variances against budget.

It means that hundreds of pieces of information will needed to be entered about each item in ways so that it can be sorted and reported according to such categories as venue, location, who transported it, when, on whose orders, where it's destined (and where it ultimately ended up), its dimensions, weight... sport, sport discipline, cost coding... you name it.

The contractor will be providing something it's essentially going to operate as an in-house service for all of VANOC's 60 or so functional areas (think of them as departments, but more fluid), including VANOC's government connections and its sponsors. The Material Planning stage will focus on preparing, detailing, allocating and controlling the Games' assets. VANOC says in-house operations are needed to allow VANOC management staff "maximum control over inventories, receiving schedules, allocations, deliveries, distribution and recovery of all materials as well as management of logistics staff-resource requirements."

There are three core parts to the system VANOC wants, and it's hoping for proposals to provide essentially turn-key types of systems that readily cover all three parts: materials planning, space planning and warehouse management. (There's actually a fourth -- auditing, in which the other functions are tracked and verified -- but it supports the other three.) Those core parts, in turn, cover a dozen functional sections to the system [see BACKGROUND, below]. The corporate operators of the system will have to provide a number aspects to keeping such a system running and useable. They include: analysis & design, development, system integration, testing, training as well as licensing & support.

One other things: much of it, particularly data entry, will be operated by inexperienced computer volunteers and that means it can be used effectively with minimal training, but still only give information, or allow modification to it, according to various security levels of accreditation. And although it will be a stand-alone system, it still needs to be operated by any accredited person anywhere on VANOC's internal network. That, of course, brings up the matter of data security, which is separate from personnel security. Only those who have the proper accreditation will be able to see the commercially or corporately sensitive data on the system.

So how does VANOC know what kind of information needs to be captured and subsequently displayed? Its Logistics executives will go through a needs-assessment process that involves having a look at the databases created for previous Games, part of the IOC's knowledge-transfer process, as well as the modifications that will be needed to deal with the geography and nomenclature used by VANOC for the way it does business. It will also work with its own venue-model exercises, as it tests how venues operate over the next year, to further refine what it needs the database to do, and establish data-processing benchmarks. The steps will go from needs assessment to model planning, and from there to detailed planning and, finally, operational planning, all by next March.

VANOC procurement staff say that if there are no proponents who are able to deal with all three core components, they are OK with firms tackling only parts of the core, but if that's the case, they'll need to be able to integrate comfortably with whoever else might chosen to complete the trio of needs.

BACKGROUND

Intriguing tidbits:

-- The logistics system will be designed to communicate the delivery plan to the security department, which controls the entry-checking points at the venues.

-- The system will also be expected to help establish loading plans for trucks in order to maximize capacity and efficiency"

-- The system is expected to be able to track the delivery of items that are easily carried to a specific person, and back again when it's time for it to be returned.

-- Sponsors and governments will also have their own warehouse locations, and the system will need to track things going to and from them as well.

The major functions VANOC wants from a logistics-management system:
- General System Requirements;

- Material Planning;

- Venue Load-In Process;

- Inventory Catalogue;

- Warehouse Inventory Management;

- Venue Space Details;

- Delivery Receipt;

- Reporting;

- Front End Capability;

- Budgetary Guidelines and Cost Control;

- Recovery Tracking; and

- Dissolution Tracking and Reporting.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 26, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2276

Here are three moguls we ran into today:
VANOC VENUE-USE PLANNING TO START LATER THIS YEAR

VANOC's detailed venue-use planning is expected to start sometime between July and September and be underway until the summer of 2009 in Vancouver, West Vancouver and Whistler. The work consists of cycles that involve each of the 60 or so functional areas of VANOC -- think of them as departments -- tour each of VANOC's competition and non-competition venues to figure out what people are specifically needed where and when, and figure out how to resolve various issues for each of the groups and how they work with each other. There will also be one-on-one workshops during that time with each function to review workforce numbers, space, technology and furniture, fixtures and equipment requirements. Each cycle will focus on the operations of a function at a specific venue over a four-week period. They will also be holding more venue testing exercises -- one was held earlier this year -- to collect information that will be used as a bench mark in the development of each functions operation at each venue. In essence, each function develops and confirm their operations at Games Time at each venue.

JAPANESE SKYCASTER LINES UP TO BROADCAST 2010 GAMES

The Yomiuri Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper, is reporting that a Japanese-based communications satellite broadcasting company, SkyPerfect Communications Inc., has decided to broadcast the Olympics, starting with the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. "This will be made possible by signing a contract with the Japan Consortium, according to company sources," says the report. The Japan Consortium -- which comprises Japan's government-owned broadcaster, NHK and its five television channels and three radio services, and the National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan, which represents all the rest of the Japanese commercial radio and television broadcasters, is expected to buy the rights to broadcast the 2010 Winter Olympic games from the International Olympic Committee, but has not yet done so. SkyPerfect, according to the report, expects to broadcast some of the 2010 events by "obtaining" a sub-license from the Japan Consortium. "By adding SkyPerfect to the list of Olympic broadcasters, viewers will be able to watch live broadcasts of events that regular Olympic broadcasters are unable to cover, such as preliminary ice hockey games," says the report. SkyPerfect, the company has not yet commented one way or the other on the report. The Tokyo-based multi-channel communications firm, as of March 31, had 4.2 million subscribers.

UNITED REPLACES SAATCHI AS IOC'S AD AGENCY

The IOC executive board, meeting in Beijing, China, today selected Voluntarily United Group of Creative Agencies (United), an agency of the British-based WPP Group, to create and implement its marketing communications campaign world wide. IOC President, Jacques Rogge said United, a group of nine agencies headquartered in London, England, was chosen from a shortlist that included three other agencies -- Havas, Leo Burnett and the incumbent Saatchi & Saatchi. The companies gave their final pitches in March at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. The IOC's promotional campaign objective this year and next is to communicate the key Olympic values of "Excellence, Friendship and Respect" to a youth audience around the world. Earlier research shows that the international Olympic movement's demographic is weakest among youth around the world. As Rogge put it today, "Engaging the youth audience in both the Olympic Games and values is essential to ensuring the future of the Olympic Movement. The promotional campaign is an important part of a wider approach by the IOC to communicate, engage and inspire a new generation of Olympic fans and participants." IOC Marketing Commission chairman Gerhard Heiberg said, "The Executive Board was impressed by United's ideas, their understanding of Olympic values and passion for them. With this campaign, we aim to relevantly communicate the meaning of the Games to young people around the world. We want to give them unique ways to experience the Olympic Games and the Olympic values.... We are confident it will provide us with a distinctive, meaningful and fresh approach to developing such a campaign." The IOC will work with United on what it calls "a multi-dimensional campaign approach" -- it includes TV, online, viral promotion, experiential concepts and public-relation activities. The campaign is due to be launched in October or November.

RESOURCES

Skyperfect:
skycom.skyperfectv.co.jp/Default.aspx?id=70

--

WPP Group:
www.wpp.com

United:

The Griffin Building
83 Clerkenwell Road
London, EC1R 5AR, United Kingdom

Telephone: +44 (0)20 7150 3300
Fax: +44 (0)20 7150 3301

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 26, 2007

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |International| #2275
IOC ISSUES TOUGHEST SANCTIONS EVER IN ANTI-DOPING CASE INVOLVING SIX WNTER OLYMPIC AUSTRIAN ATHLETES

The International Olympic Committee has permanently banned from the 2010 Winter Games and all future Olympics six athletes from the Austrian biathlon and cross-country skiing teams who competed at the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games.

It is the strongest set of sanctions ever levied by the IOC. It's the first time the IOC has punished athletes without positive or missed doping tests, and the first time athletes have received lifetime Olympic bans. An IOC spokesman says, "The severity of the sanctions is motivated by the fact that these cases go further than straightforward possession of prohibited substances and methods, and are clear instances where a network, including athletes, colluded to manipulate blood and to engage into doping practices."

The Austrian athletes also had their competition results from Turin revoked, although none won a medal. The sanctions also prevent them from serving in any other capacity that requires accreditation, such as a coach or other support official that needs to get through security.

The sanctions came from the IOC's formal disciplinary tribunal system for alleged violations of the IOC's anti-doping rules during the Games. It was the tribunal that proposed the sanctions at its conclusion, and it also disqualified the Austrian Men's 4x10 km Relay team and the Austrian Men's Sprint Team as part of the process.

Those sanctioned were Roland Diethart, Johannes Eder, Juergen Pinter, Martin Tauber, Wolfgang Perner and Wolfgang Rottmann. The case against a seventh member of the Austrian team, Christian Hoffmann, who was accredited but who didn't take part in the Games, was dismissed, but his file was transferred to the International Ski Federation with a recommendation that it consider whether his absence from the Torino Olympic Games "constituted a violation of his obligation to provide accurate whereabouts information," which is one of the rules all Olympic athletes are required to follow.

Appeals are expected, with Austrian officials saying they will review the cases before deciding whether the defend the athletes, or giving them further sanctions. The IOC's decision only affects Olympic Games.

The tribunal found that the Austrian athletes possessed prohibited substances and took part in a doping conspiracy, based on materials seized by Italian police during a raid on the athletes' living quarters during the Games a year ago.

Italian police raided the Austrian lodgings outside Torino on February 18, 2006. The raid was triggered by the presence of former Austrian coach Walter Mayer, who was himself implicated in a blood-doping case at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games and who had been banned by the IOC from the Torino Olympics.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 25, 2007

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2274

Here are three moguls we ran into today:
CPR TALKS MONEY, NOT GAMES, DURING 1ST Q COMMENTS

Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (TSX/NYSE: CP) this morning reported net income growth of 18% to C$129 million in the first-quarter of 2007, compared to the same quarter of 2006, but it made no mention in its overview of operations that it became an official Tier-2 sponsor of the 2010 Winter Olympics during the quarter. Nor, in its outlook section, did in mention anything about what it might be doing to activate its sponsorship, although it noted that it expects its revenue to increase between 4%-6% this calendar year. Operating expenses during the quarter were C$887 million, up just 0.3% from the same time last year.

VANOC TELLS POTENTIAL CONTRACTORS TO STOP TALKING TO NEWS MEDIA

VANOC has added a new clause to its standard gag orders for companies thinking they want a contact with the organization. Up to this point, VANOC has ordered in a specific lengthy clause that potential contractors keep quiet and tell no one about any aspect of the process of obtaining a contract, and fulfilling it. Now, it's gone a step further, telling them to stay mum around pesky reporters. Here's the additional language: "Any public representation or announcement regarding VANOC, [the various contracting processes] or the response thereto, or any subsequent contracts arising therefrom, shall be made only by VANOC, and any requests for information made to any respondent by the news media shall be referred to VANOC."

VANOC'S VISA SPONSOR OFFERS TRIP TO 2010 GAMES FOR CONTEST WINNER

Visa International, which will be in charge of VANOC's official payment system, says that one of the grand prize winners in its new contest for artists will win a trip for two to the Vancouver 2010 Games. The main thrust of the contest is to focus attention on the Beijing Summer Olympics. The child whose art is chosen on "artistic merit" as decided by a judging panel, gets to go to the 2010 Games instead of Beijing. The eighth Games contest, called the Visa Olympics of the Imagination, will, as usual, result in Visa sending 30 children between the ages of ten and 14 from 18 participating countries to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games as its guests, based on participants submitting a drawing from their imagination on the theme of "global unity". The program runs until May, 2008. Submissions can only come from children living in these countries: Canada, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Russia, Serbia, South Africa, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. Vladimir Oratovskyi, age nine, from Kiev, Ukraine, was chosen Grand Prize Winner during the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games and so accompanies the rest of the program’s winners to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The program is expected to be promoted through international multi-tiered marketing and public relations campaigns, as well as using outreach to schools, with cross promotions involving national Olympic committees and Visa's member financial institutions and their merchants.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 24, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2273
CANADIAN MILITARY HAS FORMED A TASK FORCE TO OVERSEE ASPECTS OF 2010 SECURITY

The Canadian military has formed Joint Task Force Games to supervise the military aspects of security required by the 2010 Winter Games.

The man in charge of the naval aspects of the Games Task Force is Roger Girouard, the rear-admiral and commander of Maritime Forces Pacific, based in Esquimalt, near Victoria on Vancouver Island. He says such a force should not surprise anyone. "That the Canadian Forces will come to Vancouver in support of the Games is a given."

Girouard says the JTFG is intended to support Canada's Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada agencies, the RCMP and provincial authorities who, he says, are the lead agencies. And, he adds, "Though we remain in the early days of forming the detailed calculations which will in turn determine the force mix and localized deployment of forces, in my opinion the relationships with the key agencies are trustful and profoundly productive. The discussions are fruitful and moving at a pace sufficient to meet the timeline before us."

Girouard, who is expected to retire in the next few months notes that "In fact, no formal request for assistance has arrived in the department. This is because the assessments and calculations are ongoing." He says that while the process in new, "I should also note that in these early days and as we advance toward the actual date of the event, much of what we are discussing and calculating relates to operational security. Certainly at this point, I am not at a position where the numbers are available to me. I am not in a place where I can comment on specifics of what those numbers may look like. These capabilities are in the process of being requested in support with the Canadian Forces and the [VANOC's Integrated Security Unit, VISU]. All of the current planning efforts around 2010 are very solid."

Girouard says the model that will be used by the military is also still being developed, and it's far too early yet to talk about how much it will all cost federal taxpayers, "What is clear is that we will be supportive to Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada and specifically the RCMP who are doing the detailed work... Certain members of my staff and I are supporting the early planning process. Specifically I have a colonel on staff who is my senior staffer for 2010. We have a full-time member in the integrated security unit. We are in the process of augmenting that army officer with a navy officer to look at the maritime domain... What has yet to play out is a definition and an announcement relating to the actual command and control construct for the Canadian Forces. That is imminent, and I expect that the minister will be making an announcement regarding that very soon. What that will describe is which flag officer will have responsibility as Joint Task Force Games and how that will fit under the Canada Command umbrella... The actual wiring diagram and the identification of the team has yet to be made."

No matter what happens though, Girouard believes the way the new force is structured will be unique to the 2010 Games. He says the model used for the Montreal Olympics can't be used because, as he puts it, "Canadian Forces went there to do everything from cook meals to drive trucks, and we do not have that manpower today. We will not do that kind of thing this time. Our approach is very much about augmenting the security side, cooperating with the general public and bringing in specialist skills whether equipment or individual skill sets. We can bring special forces, haz-mat specialists, et cetera. If we look at the specialized piece, that may be reasonably inexpensive."

Girouard says that he's looking at the way things work in the Greater Vancouver area these days, "What I look at is the domain that we have at play. It is a very intricate, very complicated, mountain, domestic, urban domain, and our part of that, whether it is the Joint Task Force (Pacific) side or the CF at large, will be about delivering specific skill sets, not the all-up, basic, fundamental, open-the-gate kind of roles. That is the kind of conversation we have already had with the RCMP. This is certainly within the envelope that the [Canadian Forces] will have in 2010. As it pertains to costing, three years out, we are in such a grosso modo, big-hand and small-map assessment, that any kind of number that I come up with for costing would be just an aberrant guess."

The rear admiral says the cost may be difficult to separate from more usual things the navy normally does. "We may have a way to avoid some costing, or to mitigate costing to have things in the neighbourhood that are in fact doing other roles but can respond, and that is how we will go about this. Between now and the Olympics in 2010 we have, for instance, a fairly significant exercise plan. That exercise plan would in many cases be what we are doing anyway. The fact that we will toss in a 2010 scenario does not mean that it is a 2010 expense."

Rear admiral Tyrone Pile will take over from Girouard on July 26, and Girouard wants 2010's planning in a much more advanced state. "We're building a home for staff this summer, and setting the groundwork of my expectations of the [2010] plan, which I want rolling when Admiral Pile shows up. He can tweak and steer as he will, as he should, as he must, but it won't be something he'll have to haul up."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 24, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2272
ON-LINE STORE TO START SELLING 2010 BRANDED PRODUCTS BY THE END OF THIS YEAR

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) expects to establish an on-line store to sell its full range of branded material by December at the latest. And, it also expects millions of visitors to the site between now and the end of 2010 will purchase products.

At the moment, VANOC's Retail Operations Program is oriented to supporting the sale of officially licensed Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games merchandise through dedicated retail channels set up by VANOC when it awards a specific request for proposals to license a company to make and market various categories of branded products, such as souvenirs. This is to be the primary focus until the web store comes on line, perhaps as early as October.

The second support stage for those approved distribution networks will be the new online store, plus "a limited number" of Olympic stores in key locations that are to be managed by third parties. The online store, however, will be the only place where all of the products licensed for sale by VANOC can be purchased. All of the physical outlets will only sell a subset of the list. That second support stage will take place from the time the on-line store begins operations until shortly before the Games begin.

The third stage -- known internally VANOC as Games-time -- is expected to see VANOC create and establish extensive, short-term retail operations through the presence of what it calls "Superstores" managed by third parties, as well as through kiosks and stores at all of VANOC's competition and a number of the non-competition venues, such as the Olympic Athletes Villages, in addition to the other stores and on-line retail.

The official online store will be the only place online to buy the full complement of official Vancouver 2010 merchandise in Canada. Furthermore, the online store can feature merchandise sourced only from Vancouver 2010 licensees.

The store, which will be tied directly into the main Vancouver2010.com site and will appear seamless with that site when it's entered, although it will be hosted on separate equipment, with separate software and secure servers. VANOC says it is expected to be the only online place to buy the full complement of official Olympic Games merchandise.

"The online store will feature thousands of items, including branded apparel, collectibles, and souvenirs, displayed in a manner that appeals to a wide demographic. Welcoming, secure, comprehensive and easy-to-use, the online store will delight those who visit the Games in 2010, as well as those who cannot attend in person, with a superior online shopping experience worthy of the world’s most prestigious sporting event," according to documentation discussing it.

VANOC has been tracking traffic trends of on Vancouver2010.com in the past year and, based also on previous Games traffic, it estimates that visitor traffic to the the main website will be heavy over the next three years, and that, because of the store linkages on the main site, will draw a heavy flow of customers into the store and that this will peak during the run of the Games, but drop off considerably afterward.

VANOC's website traffic forecast:

Pre-Games (September 2007 – January 2010): 41,000,000 visits

Games Time (February 2010 – March 2010): 86,000,000 visits

Post-Games (April 2010 – December 2010): 11,000,000 visits

VANOC says it will contract out the design, construction and maintenance of the online store, and that the contractor will be expected to supervise all inventory management, fulfillment, distribution, hosting, as well as deal with online customer-service operations. At the moment, VANOC is asking companies interested in providing the service to respond to a formal expressions of interest process that ends May 11. Those firms will be shortlisted, and an RFP going into more detail will be offered to them.

VANOC says it prefers the contractor use a revenue-sharing business model in the contractor would assume responsibility -- and the associated risks -- for running the online store, in exchange for a percentage of the store's revenues. As usual, those firms who work into their EOI-response VANOC's aboriginal, environmental sustainability and social agenda will get bonus points.

BACKGROUND

Here are the primary goals of VANOC's Retail Operations Program, along with their objectives:

Revenue and Sales:
-- to operate an online store designed to maximize sales opportunities,
-- online merchandising and marketing that drives consumer demand, and
-- online product mix and navigation strategy that maximizes cross-selling opportunities within the online store and other Vancouver 2010 online initiatives (ie. ticketing).

Brand Integrity and Extension
-- to create powerful, personal connections between consumers and the Vancouver 2010 brand, and
-- to maintain integrity and visual standards of the Vancouver 2010 brand.

Positive Retail Experience
-- to ensure a consistent, first-class retail experience for consumers,
-- to operate an online store that is easy to navigate and promotes repeat visitors,
-- to have a shopping cart / check-out that is easy-to-use, and
-- to deliver exceptional customer support.

==

VANOC says the licensees that are expected to provide merchandise for the online store will be slotted into these categories:

Apparel (e.g., knitted sweaters, t-shirts and sweatshirts, scarves, gloves, etc.)

Headwear (e.g., ball caps, toques, women’s fashion headgear)

Hardgoods (e.g., lapel pins, umbrellas, key chains, travel mugs, etc.)

Luggage and bags

Chocolates and confectioneries

School supplies

Household goods

Publications (e.g., books, calendars, posters, postcards, greeting cards, etc.)

Toys and games

Electronics

CDs and DVDs

Video games

Sporting equipment

RESOURCES

The expression of Interest document for the on-line store is here, in PDF format:
tinyurl.com/2dpz2g

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 24, 2007

Monday, April 23, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2271

Here are three moguls we ran into today:
US FIGURE SKATING INKS AD-TIME BROADCASTING DEAL WITH NBC TO 2010

The United States Figure Skating Association today reached a deal with the broadcaster that has the American broadcasting rights to the 2010 Winter Games that will see it split the sale of advertising time with NBC for the next three years -- to 2010 -- but it will not be paid rights fees by the network. The arrangement was developed after the organization's 43-year-old arrangement with broadcasting rival ABC was dropped after viewership of skating reportedly declined. The USFSA was collecting US$12 million a year in rights fees from ABC and ESPN, which shared programming on the national championships and Skate America. Both of those events are part of the three-year contract with NBC, which will televise 10 hours of competition and plans to carry live all the finals at nationals. That includes the women's final in prime time. Under the contract, all finals at nationals will be rescheduled to occur on the weekend, instead of weekday nights. Figure skating is expected to be among the most-watched events during the 2010 Winter Games.

WADA MEETS NEXT MONTH TO TALK ABOUT ATHLETE'S PASSPORT CONCEPT

The Board and Executive Committee of the Montreal-based World Anti-Doping Agency will meet May 12-13 to discuss, among other things, what it calls the Athlete's Passport, a method of tracking biological data from athletes over a period of time to more easily identify abnormal profiles during doping tests. WADA is running pilot projects to study the technical, scientific and legal feasibility of the concept. It will also discuss strategies to tackle organized doping schemes and trafficking and figuring out better ways government agencies and the sports movement can co-operate on those issues. The executive director of WADA, Dick Pound, is a member of the IOC and sits on the board that oversees VANOC.

NEWS VIDEO SHOWS PROCESS FOR MAKING 2010 COINS

Canadian Press reporter Rachelle Bergen has produced a short video on the process of how the collectable 2010 Olympic coins are made by the Canadian Mint. The video is posted on Canoe Money's website [See RESOURCES, below, for the link].

RESOURCES

Here's the web page where you can see a short video of how the Olympic coins are made:
money.canoe.ca/Video/2007/04/20/4080308-cp.html

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 23, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #2270
SAMSUNG SIGNS ON AS INTERNATIONAL MOBILE-PHONE SPONSOR OF 2010 GAMES AND THE IOC

South Korean conglomerate Samsung has become the latest international sponsor of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, and it's expected to be the vanguard of several additional international sponsors renewing their agreements this year with the International Olympic Committee to cover 2010.

Samsung, an official The Olympic Program (TOP) Partner of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in wireless telecommunications equipment, today extended its existing a sponsorship contract during a ceremony at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, as the CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC), John Furlong looked on.

According to the new contract, Samsung will sponsor the Olympic Games for the next eight years -- including the 2010 Games, the London Summer Games in 2012, the 2014 Olympic Winter Games -- the city will be chosen in early July -- and the 2016 Summer Games. Samsung becomes the seventh company to sign up as a global sponsor for the 2010 and 2012 Games, joining juice and pop giant Coca-Cola, networking firm Atos Origin, General Electric, fast-food's McDonald's Corporation, Omega watches and timekeeping, and Visa, the credit-card firm. (Coca-Cola's deal goes through 2020.) Each company has exclusive product-category deals within the Games so, for instance, Games tickets can only be purchased on Visa credit cards, and only McDonald's offers fast food.

The deals have been running around US$60 million to US$80 million, as valued by the IOC, through cash and value-in-kind arrangements that are apportioned to each of the Games included in a particular package and the IOC, but there is not yet confirmation that Samsung's arrangement is in that range.

Felicity Shankar, the CEO of Javelin Europe, a marketing consulting firm that supervised the development of Samsung's large pavilion at the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, and who toured BC giving speeches this month for 2010 Legacies Now, says there will be more such announcements to come this year, which are somewhat later than usual. "Because of the way the IOC broke the Games apart so that there is a Summer and a Winter Olympic Games every two years, it's caused some issues around renewals, so there are a number of international sponsors that we would expect to see renewed, but have, as yet, not renewed."

Lenovo, for instance, a Chinese-owned maker of desktop and laptop computers, has been expected to make a renewal decision for about five months to it's contract which expires after the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing. Others expected to make decisions this year include electronics giant Panasonic, health products manufacturer Johnson & Johnson and Kodak, the imaging firm which, among other things, provides medical equipment and image processing to the big athlete clinics at each Olympic village as part of its usual sponsorship.

The British-based Shankar, in Vancouver and Whistler last week on her first trip to the area, said she was also doing some initial scouting for possible pavilion locations. "We look at where the venues are, where the likely traffic flows will be. We prefer not to be left in the hands of some nice government official to tell us where we can be, but rather we want to say, 'This is the place that is actually going to work for all the stakeholders.' "

The Samsung signing ceremony in China involved the company's Board chairman Kun-Hee Lee, who arrived in Beijing after a three-week business trip to Europe, IOC president Jacques Rogge and London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Board chairman Sebastian Coe. All those officials, Furlong and about 400 other sports executives weren't there specifically for the Samsung signing. This week marks Sport Accord, an annual conference of organizations connected to the IOC's Olympic Games and the movement, and it's being held in Beijing this year, along with an executive committee meeting of the IOC.

Samsung first became a full sponsor of the Olympic Games during the Nagano Olympic Winter Games in 1998, based on a marketing strategy developed by Kun-Hee Lee two years earlier: "Devise strategies that can raise brand value, which is a leading intangible asset and the source of corporate competitiveness, to the global level." Samsung decided to sponsor the Olympic Movement to strengthen its global corporate image and brand value and has been carrying out a global marketing campaign using the single Olympic theme ever since.

Samsung's brand value grew more than five-fold from US$3.1 billion dollars in 1999 to US$16.2 billion dollars in 2006, according to the annual company brand value ratings by Interbrand, the world's largest brand consulting company. According to Strategy Analytics, a market research organization, Samsung's global mobile-phone market share went up from 5% in 1999 to 11.6% last year; its sales volume increased seven times from 16.7 million units to 114 million units.

Samsung normally demonstrates its wireless technology at the Olympic Games, but it also underwrites Wireless Olympic Works, first developed by Samsung for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, which is a service that enables the real-time transmission of Olympic Games information to mobile phones. The concept on which it's been working is moving from a voice-based, "mobile phone-centered" sponsorship to delivering all forms of information via the mobile phone as part of its sponsorship activation activities.

Samsung Electronics's vice-chairman and CEO, Jong-Yong Yun, and the IOC's Marketing Commission Chairman, Gerhard Heiberg, signed the contract, as Canadian Ana Yang gave a bubble performance based on a theme entitled "Dreams of the Olympic Games and Samsung."

BACKGROUND

The main businesses of Samsung Electronics are in the semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence industries. The 2006 parent company sales were US$63.4 billion and net income of US$8.5 billion. The network of companies operating under the name employ about 138,000 people in 124 offices located in 56 countries.

The company's five main business units are: Digital Media Business, LCD Business, Semiconductor Business, Telecommunication Network Business and Digital Appliance Business. The company produces digital TVs, memory chips, mobile phones and flat-screen monitors of various types.

RESOURCES

Samsung's website
www.Samsung.com

Anna Yang does her bubble performance in this short video:
youtube.com/watch?v=gtUrV9-PSN8

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 23, 2007

Friday, April 20, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2269

Here are three moguls we ran into today:
VANOC AWARDED FIRST LEED CERTIFICATION

The Vancouver 2010 headquarters has been given Gold LEED Commercial Interiors certification, according to VANOC. The organization has pledged that all of its construction and renovation will be at least to LEED-silver standards, but this is the first LEED certification it has received. The City of Vancouver, which owns the building, is reported to have contributed to the rating by improving the water-usage efficiency by upgrading the existing washrooms, improving heat monitoring when it replaced some of the building controls and also installed controls that respond to daylight in areas close to the windows. One of the international sponsors of VANOC, General Electric, supplied Energy Star-rated equipment and appliances in the kitchenettes on each floor. VANOC supplier-sponsor Haworth provided some systems furniture and office seating that was certified as under air emissions quality levels. Other office renovations included: increased natural light which reduced the need for lighting fixtures between 40% and 50%; various energy-saving fixtures were installed; recycled materials were used; and a carpet tiling system that means only tiles need to be replaced instead of recarpeting entire rooms. There are also systems for the stream of recycling and composting on every floor as well as employee-based waste-management methods and cleaning systems. Meanwhile, VANOC's Olympic Athletes Village, being built by a development subsidiary of Whistler municipality, the municipal landfill that was closed and is adjacent to the site will be set up so the buildings to be built for the Village will have systems to capture and use the methane gas produced by the capped landfill. Heat produced by the nearby municipal wastewater treatment system, which is to undergo a major upgrade, will also be captured for use by Village. At the City of Vancouver’s Hillcrest/Nat Bailey Stadium Park curling venue, waste heat from the refrigeration plant is expected to be used to heat other building spaces and the nearby aquatic centre. At the Richmond sports complex that will house VANOC's long-track speedskating oval, rainwater will be captured and used for irrigation, ice-making and toilets. There are also plans to construct an wetland for storm water treatment at the site; a similar system is being set up for the Vancouver Athletes Village.

VANOC HR AND RECRUITMENT SPONSOR IN NOVA SCOTIA

VANOC's executive vice-president of the Human Resources, Sustainability and International Client Services division, Donna Wilson, will be in Halifax, Nova Scotia, next week. The reason for her visit is not yet known, but she's be with Patrick Sullivan, president of VANOC's official recruitment and job-search supplier, Workopolis.

VANOC SEEKS 'SPEAKER TRAINERS'

VANOC has issued a 41-page Request for Proposals in order to hire "one or more speaker trainers" to coach "key executives and personnel" as necessary over the next three years on how to give better presentations. The trainers need 10 years experience "training senior executives from well-recognized organizations." They should also have a "strong ability to extract personal stories from participants and teach them how to successfully incorporate these at speaking opportunities." The trainers will also need "flexibility to respond to urgent requirements." The closing date for the RFP's window is May 17. The contract is to be awarded in June.

RESOURCES

LEED's Commercial interiors requirements
www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=145
--
Here's the link to download the trainer-speaker RFP document:
http://tinyurl.com/ysddz3

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 20, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2269

Here are three moguls we ran into today:
VANOC AWARDED FIRST LEED CERTIFICATION

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 20, 2007

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2268
ENERGY DIRECTOR TALKING TO BC HYDRO ABOUT "BIG PROJECTS" TO INCREASE POWER RELIABILITY TO VENUES

The director of Energy for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) says negotiations are underway with BC Hydro about the possibility of the utility being involved in several "big projects" over the next two years to increase power reliability to the venues of the 2010 Games.

Paul Toom told the Vancouver branch of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) that the total Games Time electrical load will be approximately 140 megawatts of power delivered to about 120 VANOC sites in Greater Vancouver and the Whistler area, of which 17 are major competition and non-competition venues. It's those venues, he says, that have "extraordinary reliability requirements." Of that, 54 megawatts are split: 32 megawatts will be for mission-critical services, and 22 will be supplied by "cold" backup power systems, such as diesel generators.

Toom says he's heard the head of VANOC's Olympic Broadcast System, Nancy Lee, describe the Games as "a 400-hour TV show", but there's another description he likes: "One NFL Superbowl times 15 venues times 17 days." He knows that because one of the consultants working with Toom on planning power for the Games also worked on doing the same thing for the Superbowl.

Toom, who has been working with Hydro for two years on planning power for the Games and in the process is set to become one of Hydro's biggest customers, says some of the big projects they're discussing involve bringing kilometres of overhead power lines underground, where they can't be affected by weather or other hazards, with the specific amounts dependent on the circumstances of each venue. If these projects go ahead, they will be done within Hydro's current and 2008 construction-budget years, and the decisions on them will have be made, "virtually immediately."

"We have to look at that in two categories," he said. "There's work that's being done as part of the basic delivery of service by BC Hydro to venue owners, and a lot of that 'undergrounding' happens by basic BC Hydro policy, or because it makes sense, or because the owner wants it. Then there is additional work that is being looked at, and all I can say at this moment is that BC Hydro and VANOC are discussing it. When I talk about big pieces having to fall into place, there's a big piece there." The numbers and extent of the projects involved were the subject of talks between VANOC and BC Hydro, he said, so he wasn't able to discuss that publicly yet.

But he noted that it isn't always a matter of taking what is overhead and putting it underground, "because we're talking about new venues, so if you have the choice, why not just put it underground to begin with. And it doesn't always mean you have to dig into the ground, there is often existing duct banks in the ground with spare ducts, such as pipes you can run cables through, so you don't have to do any of the civil work, or you just need a limited amount of civil works. Those opportunities are being looked at. And when we talk about improvements beyond that, we're talking about increased reliability and the costs associated with that, and all issues associated with that are being discussed between VANOC and Hydro."

Toom notes, however, that VANOC has been making improvements to the power delivery for all of the venues in a number of ways, and making detailed reliability calculations for each one -- including a variable that estimates what Toom calls the "Murphy factor," based on Murphy's law: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. The main feeds to the venues will be 12 kilovolt lines with reliability factors that predict only one failure in 30 years. Planning is also taking into account scenarios that involved fire, flood, "human actions", seismic events and various emergencies.

Toom says that for a variety of technical and economic reasons, only a small portion of the power systems VANOC needs to have in place will be available during the major test events that are scheduled for the early and late part of 2008 and early 2009. But he has set a deadline of having all of VANOC's major components installed and online by December 1, 2008. Then, about three weeks before they are needed, VANOC contractors will begin installing dozens of rented diesel generators that will form the back-up power supply to the venues and their overlay components.

The rental and the time frames for their use were determined by the economics of using them, he said, but the fact that he won't be able to put the systems VANOC will use for the Games to a full-load test until shortly before Games time doesn't significantly concern him. "The major parts of the system... will be in place by the end of 2008," he says, "and we'll have a year or so to confirm those. We're pretty comfortable. We're working with a proven technology, and we're working with experienced partners -- BC Hydro and whoever is going to provide our temporary power supply in the form of generators and power distribution. We're not expecting anything unusual, and we will have several weeks to deal with anything unusual that does happen."

VANOC considers some events mission critical: the Opening and Closing ceremonies, which will be televised to about three billion people and all of their lighting, sound and technical systems. They will all have the three levels of power supply.

The reliability of power becomes an issue because there are a number of parts to each major complex, including VANOC's own headquarters, which requires assured power. These include power to television broadcast facilities and particularly the commentators booths, Games-management technology such as the computers that power event timing and competition results, and security. In those cases, they will be supplied by a main power-delivery system, a secondary system, both of which are on the BC Hydro power grid, and a third system that also involves back-up generators and uniterruptible power systems.

In the case of the two primary power deliver systems, if the main line fails, a machine known as a Vista Switch shunts power from the secondary system automatically within nine seconds, although Toon concedes that such a short time frame is pushing the switching technology. If either the main or secondary lines fail individually, the series of cold-start diesel generators automatically begin running, although they can take several minutes to come to full power and synchronize with other generators that together provide the full backup system.

The redundancy is built into several critical areas of the power delivery systems and, wherever possible, even substations supplying the two redundant feeds also have redundant ties.

It's also a theme in the venues themselves. For instance, the lights that supply broadcast-level lighting to the IOC's standard of 1,400 lux in the competition areas, which VANOC calls the Field of Play, are supplied by two separate circuits, half the lights are on one circuit, half on another, so that if one circuit fails, there will still be sufficient lighting complete an on-going competition.

There are a couple of special cases among the venues. The International Broadcast Centre is one, where TV broadcasting power demands will vary with the number of crews and their equipment, but VANOC intends to design 'plug-and-play' power methods, where additional power can be "injected" into the system using generators if need be. Another is at Hastings Park, where the short-track ice-skating venue is located. Power has to be brought from the Rupert substation almost entirely across the huge park and at the moment there's only one elderly cable. More work will be done by VANOC to increase the reliability of that system.

Toom and his staff have also done calculations that show, much to their surprise, that most of the temporary facilities can use electrical space heaters, instead of what has been done in other Games, where natural gas or propane heating systems outside tents and temporary buildings have pushed heat into them. He says the calculations show that because of electrical availability in BC, it would cost about C$30,000 for electrical heating, about C$100,000 for oil and about C$800,000 for propane heating.

Sustainability is also an issue that affects everything that happens with the Games power delivery, and VANOC expects to have a net zero impact greenhouse gas emissions. "We plan to use green electricity and minimize the role of temporary generators. We have the opportunity to use BC Hydro power, which has low greenhouse gas intensity, and for that little bit of carbon in BC Hydro's power, we plan to purchase green-power certificates." Such certificates help to finance the generation of power creation methods that don't produce greenhouse gasses. The sustainability calculations also take into account the greenhouse-gas generation of electrical materials VANOC uses in their construction.

The International Olympic Committee has now hired additional staff for its offices at VANOC headquarters in Vancouver to be involved in the power planning, and reviews began last October, with more sessions scheduled later this year.

BACKGROUND

This table shows the relative constant-dollar costs of power generated by diesel for VANOC compared with the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games and the 2006 Torino Games:

Salt Lake City -- 350 generators burning about 5,000 litres of diesel fuel. Total power cost: C$55 million
Torino -- 620 generators, about 10 megalitres of fuel. Total power cost: C$75 million
Vancouver target -- less 100 generators, about 300,000 litres of fuel. Total power cost: C$49 million

--

Generators, although the third level of power supply, also have their own reliability issues: starting, contaminated fuel, fuel affected by cold temperatures...

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 19, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2267

Here are three moguls we ran into today:
VANOC'S BUSINESS PLAN GOES PUBLIC MAY 8

VANOC CEO John Furlong says the organization's long-awaited business plan and operations budget will be made public and posted on VANOC's website on Tuesday, May 8. Furlong, who made the comment during a speech to a luncheon at the Urban Design Institute in Vancouver, indicated that he's hoping the document, which will be a government summary report backed by "volumes and volumes" of supporting material, will allow the public a look inside the way VANOC intends to run and operate the Games at the competition venue sites it's either building or refurbishing, and supporting with the non-competition venues, such as the Olympic Athlete Villages in Vancouver and Whistler. Furlong called it VANOC's "lock on the door" and the "road map to the finish line." He said the document has been approved by the BC and federal governments, as well as the International Olympic Committee. The luncheon was co-sponsored by the BC Cement Association and Concert Properties.

VANOC'S DEMSCHAR TO JOIN UTAH-BASED SKI RESORT COMPANY

Powdr Corporation officials report that Herwig Demschar, currently the vice-president of Venue Management, will join the Utah ski resort operator May 15 as the company's chief operating officer. "We have talked with Herwig before about coming to work at Powdr, but the Olympics are a formidable lure. We're fortunate that the situation and timing was right for him and his family to come back to Utah," said John Cumming, the president of Powdr. "As we continue to grow, we're very pleased that we have an opportunity to utilize his extraordinary background in this industry." Demschar said, "In German, there is a saying that I will be leaving 'with one crying eye and one laughing eye.' I am sad to leave the great group of people at the Vancouver Olympic Committee, but I am thrilled with the great opportunity presented to me by Powdr Corp." The former coach of the U.S. women's alpine team is going to work for a company that owns several ski resorts including Park City Mountain Resort in Utah; Mt. Bachelor in Bend, Oregon; Nevada's Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort; Alpine Meadows at Lake Tahoe; and Boreal Mountain Resort and Soda Springs at Donner Summit in California. The company recently announced its intention to purchase Killington Resort and Pico Mountain in Vermont. Demschar has Olympic experience on both the administrative and athletic levels. He was previously the Director of Sports for the Torino Olympic Games and Director of Alpine Sports for the Salt Lake Winter Olympics. He's the second senior executive this week to end his relationship with VANOC. We reported yesterday that the 2010 organization's director of Ice Sports, Dan Moro, resigned after two years to return to the Canadian Olympic Development Association.

COC LOSES BATTLE OVER TRADEMARK USE OF "SEE YOU IN VANCOUVER"

The Canadian Federal Court has granted the an application by a charity once known for its brands "See You In Torino," See You In Beijing," and "See You In Vancouver" for judicial review with costs. In doing so, it quashed the Canadian Olympic's claim in 2004 to the trade marks that had raised more than C$4 million dollars for more than 500 Canadian athletes.. "This is a great victory for our Fund," says Jane Roos, Executive Director of the Canadian Athletes Now Fund, as the charity is currently called. "We won in the court, but no one really wins here because it has been distracting and such a waste of energy having to win your own name back." At the time, the COC requested Canada's Registrar of Trade-marks to publish the brands as official marks under Section 9 of Canada's Trade-Marks Act. The COC indicated that they had used the marks which is a requirement under the act. When challenged by Roos and her legal team in a judicial review application, the COC had to provide actual evidence that they had used the marks as they had represented, but they were either unable or unwilling to do so. "This case sets a precedent," says Terry McManus, Business and Intellectual Property lawyer of the firm Milton Geller LLP. "As the Court now requires the Registrar of Trade Marks to demand actual proof of adoption and use rather then taking an applicants word for it."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 19, 2007

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2266

Here are three moguls we ran into today:
VANOC MANAGER QUITS TO RETURN TO CODA

VANOC's director of Ice Sports, Dan Moro, has resigned after two years to return to the Canadian Olympic Development Association to help manage the C$276-million Centre of Sport Excellence in Calgary as vice-president of facility development. Bob Nicolay, president and chief executive officer of CODA. "The new athletics and ice complex represents the heart of the Centre of Sport Excellence, and Dan has tremendous knowledge since he helped build the business plans for CODA on this project prior to joining VANOC two years ago." Moro adds that, "CODA's plan for these facilities and programs will help bring home more medals for Canada than ever before in 2010 and beyond." Moro was hockey director for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, CODA's manager of sport from 2003 to 2005, and a consultant for the 2006 Turin Olympics hockey and curling programs.

WHISTLER OLYMPIC VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE OUTLINED

The Whistler 2020 Development Corporation, the wholly owned subsidiary of Whistler municipality, has sketched some of its schedule for delivering the 2010 Whistler Athletes Village, now that VANOC has paid it all but C$2 million of its C$35 million contribution to the project, budgeted at C$130 million. The developer expects this year to do site servicing and construct the foundations for about 185 buildings -- townhouses, duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and apartment buildings -- that will comprise the Village, located south of Whistler. Marketing the portion that is to be sold on the open market will also take place, with delivery in mid-2010; the balance will be assigned under Whistler's employee-housing process. Next year, 2010 Development will construct the buildings, finishing in early 2009, when the remaining C$2 million hold-back is expected to be paid out by VANOC upon completion. They will then be furnished for the 2,500 Olympic and Paralympic athletes, and, once the Games are concluded at the end of March 2010, the Olympic overlay and related materials will be removed and the buildings furnished for permanent use by about 1,000 residents. The Village will form the core of a much larger neighbourhood that Whistler expects will take nearly a decade to expand and complete.

VANOC SPONSOR COSPORT MOVES TO TICKET PHASE OF BEIJING OLYMPICS

CoSport, the packaged accommodations supplier to the 2010 Winter Olympics, has begun the next phase of its ticketing process for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Following a process its expected to follow for 2010, CoSport has begun the "Ticket Request Phase", no payments are collected although credit cards are authorized when those requesting tickets place their requests for specific Games in China. This phase is expected to end in the middle of July. In addition, a parallel phase is also underway, dealing with live sales of accommodations and hospitality packages; this phase continues until interest ends or packages are sold out. Tickets will be allocated and confirmed from mid-July to mid-September. After that, CoSport will be selling live whatever tickets remain. To reduce scalping and fraud, actual tickets won't be delivered for the packages until about a month before the Games begin.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 18, 2007

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2265

Here are two more moguls we ran into today:
VANCOUVER MAY USE VANOC HQ FOR POLICE HQ AFTER GAMES

The City of Vancouver is mulling over the possibility of using the city-owned building that's now VANOC's headquarters as the new headquarters for the Vancouver City Police once the Games are finished and VANOC has wound down. The police are currently split between two buildings in the central downtown area, and there's still quite a bit of work to be done in figuring out what is needed for a new headquarters. City staff say the VANOC HQ building, which is on the outskirts of the city, is just one of a number of options being considered for police.

VANCOUVER RESTRICTS BUSINESSES IN 2010 OLYMPIC VILLAGE

Vancouver City Council today rezoned the 2010 Olympic Village and, in the process, restricted the types of service businesses that can locate in the largely residential and community area. The new bylaw for the area allows for a variety of retail stores except for a gas station or a car dealership, but restricts service businesses to animal clinics, barber shops or beauty salons, bed-and-breakfasts, catering establishments, neighbourhood pubs, photofinishing or photography labs and studios, print shops, production or rehearsal studios, class-B repair shops, restaurants, as well as arts, self-improvement and business schools. The sizes of the businesses are restricted, depending on location within the Village, to areas no smaller than 1,300 square metres and no larger than 9,674 square metres.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 17, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2264
VANCOUVER CONTEMPLATES CITY'S OLYMPIC LIVE SITE COULD COST UP TO C$20 MILLION

The managing director of Cultural Services for the City of Vancouver says the 2010 Olympic Live Site proposed for the downtown business district will play "a very critical role" in the City's mid-term planning of the "cultural precinct" being developed in the area.

The federal government has budgeted up to C$20 million for live-site development in the two 2010 host cities, with Vancouver offered half and Whistler offered half, but it appears City staff are thinking the budget for the Vancouver Live Site alone could be as much as C$20 million.

Sue Harvey says the city's planning process is now looking at "a mix of cultural and other kinds of uses that are potential for the site" in Vancouver. City council today approved a budget of just over C$92,000 for a concerted three-month study that would gain enough information and establish a budget that could be used by the City to apply for the C$10 million.

The timing of the study, which includes public input, is critical, as it would allow the City's Olympic office to provide council with sufficient information and three options for the area's use that it could approve the application before council's summer break in June; council won't normally meet again until September.

Harvey says it would be a "real opportunity" for the planning to propose retaining some "physical legacies" of the Live Site for the city's use after the Games, "by way of open space or public art, perhaps." But she adds that whether it will be that type, or physical structures in the area won't be known until the study is completed. "We would be looking at using the whole bus-depot site, and retaining as much space as we could to accommodate the people that would be there."

Dave Rudberg, General manager of the City's Olympic & Paralympic Operations office and a co-manager of the Live-Site project with Harvey, says he expects the city's contribution to the Live Site could be as much as another C$10 million, bringing the total budget to C$20 million. But he says it's unlikely staff would recommend city money be entirely used to match the federal contribution. "Keep in mind there are two components, a capital component ad well as an operating component up to and including Games time," he notes. "We would also look to sponsors and look to VANOC [to share the city's load]. There are lots of opportunities -- because we are working with Whistler, Richmond, the provincial government to share -- to acquire equipment, but most importantly to share the programming of the space. by bringing in talent and using it in several different venues." He says that if those sources failed to come through, "we would have to scale the program to reflect the funds that are available."

Rudberg says his office would "like to maximize the amount of legacy that we retain," but he says it depends on what is both done on the site and the result of the long-term planning for the cultural precinct.

While he talks in millions of dollars for the site, however, Rudberg's own department is spending the bulk of its 2007 consulting budget on the C$92,000 study, and that budget is supposed to last his office until March, 2008. Rudberg hopes to refund his consulting budget when the City approves a 2010 Legacy Reserve fund, "but that's a different issue, for a different time... but we just can't take hits like this because the funding just isn't in the Office budget, it would have to come from some sort of Legacy Fund."

City Council established, but didn't fund, the Legacy Reserve Fund during this year's budgeting process, because of political splits within council. Rudberg says that if the Fund ever does have money in it, "We would take the C$20 million that was proposed for there to do this work, plus the community-outreach work; there would be enough funds to do that."

BACKGROUND

A Live Site is a public gathering space to hold a range of daily and nightly activities during the Olympic and Paralympic Games, centred around a large television screen with live broadcasts of Games' competitions, live entertainment featuring local talent, as well as recreational and cultural activities.

It's also expected there will be various pavilions, including possibly a C$20 million aboriginal pavilion in the area until the Games are finished.

The area proposed for Vancouver involves a large empty lot formerly occupied by a bus depot, combined with the nearby Queen Elizabeth Theatre plaza and intervening road.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 17, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2263

Here are three moguls we ran into today:
VANOC'S OWN RETAIL STRATEGY GLIMPSED

VANOC's retail strategy is expected to include a series of Vancouver 2010 Olympic Stores, as well as a web-based storefront on its main web domain, Vancouver2010.com, and is also expected to include event merchandising in a number of areas controlled by VANOC, such as at its venues and during test events leading up to and during the 2010 Games. VANOC also intends to develop and implement a marketing plan, co-ordinated by VANOC's Communications Department, to support the organization's own retail efforts, as well as the retail marketing of companies it's licensed to produce and sell VANOC-branded products. It also plans to be involved in trade shows, where its appropriate, to move its products. The stores, web and event merchandising will focus on its own licensed and branded products. The underlying concept is to ensure VANOC gets as much revenue as possible from the sale of the merchandise it's authorized, or intends to authorize in the next couple of years. The retail operations plan is expected to be developed this year, but it's still unclear whether the marketing plan would be developed at the same time. VANOC also intends to do third-party retailer procurement.

VENUE AGREEMENT REACHED ON WHISTLER ATHLETES VILLAGE

VANOC and the Whistler Development Corporation, the municipal organization charged with delivering the municipality's Olympic Athletes Village, have completed their venue agreement. Among many other things, it allows VANOC's main funding of C$35.5 million, from its capital construction budget that's split 50/50 by contributions from the federal and BC government, to be paid toward the total cost of what will be the eventual core of an extensive new Whistler neighbourhood. The total budget of the Village portion is expected to be about C$130 million. The rest of the funding, to be advanced in various ways, is expected to be recouped by restricted sales of most of the complex of townhouses and cluster houses as homes for local residents for use after the 2010 Games are finished. A relatively small percentage of the Village will also be sold on the open market to complete the financing.

YES, BCE IS TALKING TO SUITORS

BCE -- the parent company of VANOC's largest sponsor, Bell Canada, and its host broadcaster, CTV -- today officially confirmed rumours it's previously denied over the last couple of weeks. It's issued a terse statement that it has "entered into discussions with a group of leading Canadian pension funds to explore the possibility of taking the publicly-traded company private." This group is led by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments). BCE's statement says they have signed "a non-disclosure and standstill agreement with BCE on a non-exclusive basis." Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, a private equity firm, has also signed the agreement is to be a minority partner.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 17, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2262
VANCOUVER EXPECTED TO APPROVE SEWER HEAT FOR 2010 OLYMPIC VILLAGE, AFTER SAWDUST OPTION STALLS

The City of Vancouver staff have concluded they can't get an air-quality permit in time, and are recommending to council that the 2010 Olympic Village use sewer-generated heat as the main source of warmth for the apartments and condos to be constructed there.

City Council is expected to approve the decision this afternoon, since it doesn't have much choice.

The City, for several years, had talked about heat from the sewer pipes that ran past the Village would be tapped, supplemented by natural gas heating during the coldest months. Last December, however, staff recommended the City spend C$50,000 on pursuing air-quality licensing through the Greater Vancouver Regional District for an alternative heating option that involved a furnace that burned sawdust because it might be slightly more sustainable, and that the sewer method had a number of technical issues.

However, the wood-burning option would mean about three trucks of compressed sawdust pellets per week would be provided to the Village, and another truck per week would be used to haul away ash. When neighbouring areas heard about the plan, opposition to the idea began to mount. When the sawdust system was touted, staff said the Village's construction schedule needed to have a deciion on the heating option by the end of March.

Staff say that the GVRD is now estimating it would take at least another two months and perhaps as long as six months to find out whether it would issue the necessary discharge permit.

As for the technical issues, staff now report, "In the past three months, further work has been done by the City's consultants to investigate technical challenges related to the viability of sewer-heat recovery. This work has determined that solutions can be found to key issues, and the technical risk associated with a sewer heat recovery system has been reduced significantly. These issues included:

Concerns about sewer flow limitations, which can be solved by using the Nelson Force Main Sewer as a source of "top up" supply

Concerns about the ability of the heat pump to operate in low heat-demand conditions, which can be addressed by adding a small condensing natural gas boiler to the design and

Concerns about the potential for delays arising from the need for certification of specialized equipment originating in Europe, which can be mitigated by early ordering of the necessary equipment."

Intriguingly, these were not the main technical concerns in December, the key one of which dealt with whether the relatively rare system being contemplated, which deals with a sewer feed with solids in the stream, would be able to work as well as the much more prevalent method which deals with slurries over the long term, since not much was known about longevity and economics, and whether there was sufficient diversity in parts suppliers for the equipment.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 17, 2007

Monday, April 16, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2261
BC ENVIRONMENTAL AGENCY NOT EXPECTED TO RULE ON VANOC NORDIC TRAIL PLAN BEFORE JUNE

The latest schedule indicates the BC government's Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) is not expected to decide until June 20 as to whether the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) is approved to construct 24 kilometres of ski trails near its Callaghan Valley Nordic Centre.

The EAO is expected to approve the application, in part because its own consultants are concluding that the construction of what are being termed the Legacy Trail System in the Madeley Valley, which is within the Callaghan Valley system and is expected to cost C$2 million, will have little environmental impact.

Enkon Environmental of the Greater Vancouver suburb of Surrey noted in its report to the BC Environmental Assessment Office last month that even the worst-case scenario, in which 44 hectares of forest, 86% of it old-growth, would have to be cut in the area to make way for the trails, represents only 2% of the old-growth forest in the area. It notes that the trails, 6.5 metres wide on their own for cross-country skiing, will require a total clearing width, to deal with drainage and slope stabilization, of up to 20 metres. (The 44 hectare figure is a paper exercise based on the maximum width for the trail clearing, not the actual width, which will vary with topography.)

VANOC, three years ago, had originally proposed that about 100 kilometres of trails would need to be built for the Whistler Nordic Centre, for competition and recreation to support the on-going business of the Nordic resort that would remain after the Games, but that was cut back to about 24 kilometres by changes in the way the sport required the trails, through budget constraints and the results of an extensive consultation program by VANOC that involved the public, regulatory authorities and aboriginal communities over the last two years to identify
potential issues associated with the recreation trails component.

The recreation trail component is a key part in ensuring the resort is a tourism destination after the Games, and can support itself. The Whistler Legacy Society was formed to be the owner of the venue after the Games and is to operate it afterwards.

As we understand it, VANOC plans to construct the recreation trails during this year's construction season and demobilize them by fall; this would happen while the rest of the WNC and its competition trails are completed. It doesn't want to do it later than this year because it feels it would become more expensive to build them, due to cost escalation, and it would also cost more to remobilize crews and equipment and to re-train contractors about the extensive environmental management plans in place in the area. During 2008 and 2009, VANOC says it will be focussed on fit out and overlay of the venue and various test events, not construction.

BACKGROUND

Here's the current EAO schedule plan for this year:
April 30 -- Public review period, currently underway, concludes
April 10 -- Working group reviews the draft application
May 4 -- The outside date by which VANOC is expected to respond to the review commentary
May 7 to May 22 -- Working group reviews final application with VANOC's commentary
May 30 -- EAO's evaluation report of the application
May 30 to June 13 -- the working group reviews the details of the EAO evaluation report
June 20 -- EAO renders decision

==

Some things Enkon recommended to the Environment ministry that VANOC undertake with recreation business as part of the proposed trail plan:

Explore business development opportunities with commercial recreation operators

Work with commercial recreation operators to investigate ways to use their services during the Games

Cooperate with BC Parks, a BC government agency, on updating the Callaghan Provincial Park management plan, and

Explore marketing the Whistler Nordic Centre and the Callaghan Valley, with BC Parks and Tourism BC, to promote cross-country skiing, commercial recreation operations and aboriginal cultural ideas

RESOURCES

The EAO's registry of documents for the proposed trail plan application:
www.eao.gov.bc.ca/epic/output/html/deploy/epic_document_234_23705.html

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 16, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2260
WHISTLER COUNCIL EXPECTED TONIGHT TO APPROVE IN PRINCIPLE THE DETAILED DESIGNS OF THE 2010 OLYMPIC VILLAGE

Whistler resort municipal council is expected tonight to give approval in principle to the detailed planning, design and development of the town's 2010 Olympic Athlete Village, which it calls the Cheakamus Area Legacy Neighbourhood.

The approval is expected to include instructions that Whistler staff set up the required public hearing for the bylaw which, if approved after the hearing, would give permission for the Village to be built according to the plans.

Draft 1 of the guidelines was first given to council last December, but a number of revisions were made to that draft to finalize the Neighbourhood Master Plan as it evolved through detailed design development. The changes also incorporate comments from Whistler's Advisory Design Panel, council, various consultants, as well as the Whistler 2020 Development Corporation, which is supervising the Village's construction, and changes requested by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC).

Much earlier in the process, Whistler council also left open the possibility that the Callaghan Valley, where VANOC is constructing its Whistler Nordic Centre and temporary ski jumps for the 2010 Games, would be used for residential development, but that dropped by the wayside as plans evolved. The bylaw to get first and second reading at council tonight formally removes the Callaghan Valley as a development area.

Meanwhile, Whistler municipal council is also expected to finally legalize the existence of a temporary concrete batch plant that has already been built and is in operation south of the town, giving it permission to be located for about two years on land zoned residential as part of the preparations for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Staff are asking council to issue a Temporary Commercial and Industrial Use Permit tonight for the property, part of a BC Hydro electrical right-of-way, to industrial for the two years. The plant was built by the Peter Kiewit & Sons company, which is one of the contractors working with the BC government to upgrade Highway 99 as part of the government's role in helping the Games take place. Once the two years are up, the plant is to be removed, and the land returned to its residential zoning.

The batch plant is located about kilometre east of the highway on the Daisy Lake Forest Service Road, near the Olympic construction road turnoff to the Callaghan Valley, where the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) is building the 2010 Nordic Centre for the Games. It's scheduled to run for up to three days a week. Logistically, the plant reduces the number of concrete trucks making long runs on the highway, and helps to deal with Ministry of Transport specifications that require concrete to be used within 90 minutes of mixing, for most purposes, but only 45 minutes for bridge decks.

BC Hydro's provided the company a right-of-way use permit and the BC government has issued a two-year water-use permit, so the plant can take water from the upper Cheakamus River for its operations.

The company even had to do an environmental review, looking at both air quality and effluent discharge, which was done by Dillon Consulting of the Greater Vancouver suburb of Richmond.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 16, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2259

Here are three moguls we ran into today:
C$346,790 TO BE SPENT ON UPGRADING VANCOUVER PRE-OLYMPIC NETWORKS

Buried deeply in the C$34.9 million, 126-page Vancouver city engineering budget that's expected to be approved by council next Thursday is a C$346,790 project that is designed to help strengthen the city's digital communications network in advance of the 2010 Winter Games. The project, which involves VANOC's telecommunications sponsor Bell Canada, involves replacing leased lines with a fibre-optics system. The