Glasgow gets its game on

With the London Olympic Games just around the corner, developments in and around East London are progressing well. Even two years ago, it would have been hard to imagine the state of progress that London is at. Yet in terms of development stage, this exactly where Glasgow now finds itself.

The news that Glasgow had won the bid to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games, announced in 2007, was largely overshadowed the media by debates over the cost of development for the Olympics. Yet there’s no denying the magnitude of events that will envelope Glasgow in 2014. With 6,500 athletes from more than 70 nations will descend upon the city to compete in 17 separate sports over the 11 day competition.

The coordination involved for the event is quite simply epic. Yet when considered alongside the media and fans that are attending, this becomes a logistical nightmare. India, the 2010 host of the Commonwealth Games, is expecting an estimated boost in tourism to around five million people for the period of their Games. If this were replicated in Glasgow, it would effectively quintuple the population.

With this daunting prospect hanging over the city, developments have already got underway. And there is much to do in the city in preparation for the Games.

Running the games
Work has begun on ensuring that Glasgow is ready for 2014. In terms of hosting the events themselves, existing venues in the city are being called into use. Celtic Park football ground will act as the main stadium for the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as act as the focal point for the Games, with the planned site for the athletes’ village lying adjacent to it. Hampden Park will also be called into use for the athletics events.

Some existing facilities will be expanded for the Games. Tollcross Park Leisure centre, for example, already has an Olympic-standard pool yet is to be redeveloped to add, among other things, an additional pool for athletes to warm up. Finally, new developments will include a main arena and velodrome to be custom built for the Games.

Major developments will also need to go ahead to Glagow’s infrastructure system. Getting to the city can be achieved by a system of road, rail and airport connections. However improvement or modification is likely to be needed to all the transport hubs in and around Glasgow to deal with the huge increase in the volume of people travelling around the city for the 11 days of the Games.

Within the city itself, a bus network and subway system serves the population. While extra buses will likely be brought in for the Games, it has been announced that the subway ring will receive a £300m overhaul. A long-term programme of works, key improvements to Kelvinhall and Ibrox stations have already been identified. As such these stations will experience extensive renovation ahead of their role of transporting people to key Games venues.

Finally, the city is in the process of smartening itself up. Glasgow City Council can be seen as keen to promote that the majority of new building works are completed ahead of the Games in the city, particularly those located in the main shopping areas of the city. In this respect Glasgow hopes to put on its best face when the world’s media descends on the city.

Potential turmoil
As can has been seen from news regarding the London Olympics process, planning for such a large scale event is anything but straight forward. Perhaps inevitably then, cracks have already appeared in some of Glasgow’s plans. Much like in London, the cost of the Games has spiralled up at a worrying rate. Despite many pre-existing venues, the cost of hosting the Games is estimated to be even at this early stage of development the project £80m over-budget, with estimated costs for the Games currently around £454m.

The leadership for the Games is also currently in trouble. Labour leader of the City Council, Stephen Purcell, quit the post in March of this year. A variety of personal and political reasons have been cited in the press, but the stress and pressure of the Games is understood to have been one of the central factors relating to his resignation. The election has since done little to settle things at the council.

There are also considerable doubts surrounding the capacity of the city’s transport infrastructure. In the autumn of 2009, a ten mile traffic tailback  and hours of delays occurred around the city when both a Celtic football match and a U2 concert were held on the same night. As it was estimated that this was only the movement of 120,000 people, the Commonwealth Games could gridlock the city.

In addition, in September 2009, the Scottish Government announced a planned key rail link from Glasgow Airport to the city has been shelved. Despite a successful vote for the project back in 2006, the £300m scheme, which would have introduced a new 1.2 mile stretch of railway creating a fast link between the airport and Glasgow Central station, was scrapped due to wider budget concerns.

Though there is still a debate to be had among politicians since the election, with the current budget situation it is increasingly unlikely that this potentially very useful travel link will now take place.  

City disputes
Finally, even preparing developments in time for Games is becoming a difficulty, with politics lying at the centre of the issue.

A bitter battle is currently ongoing over a development on Buchanan Street in Glasgow’s city centre. Arguments centre on a 1.2 acre site which has long been contested in terms of its building rights in what is being seen
as a political row within the council.

Currently owned by Land Securities, Glasgow City Council want to see a mixed-use development of shops, offices and 90 flats completed on the site by 2013.

There is no current development partner agreed. The council is preparing to force start on the development through compulsory purchase order. However, recently Standard Commercial Properties, a previous applicant for to be development partner and opponent of the current scheme, has launched fresh objections to the project. They have made allegations that their bid to become development partner was rejected as a result of bribery of former council head, Steven Purcell, by another developer, Paul Green, and claim to have access to financial documents confirming this.

The allegation has rocked the city, drawing out more allegations of corruption and bribery at Purcell’s office, with claims that key civic contracts were given to people who were Labour donors and personal friends. If allegations are proven true, it will not only trigger a police investigation into Purcell (already marred by allegations of drug use) but will also cause other building contracts to be reassessed. This of course would be potentially very damaging to works going on around the city.

Hopefully in the long term, the current concerns will blow over none of these problems will end up hindering the Games. There is a great opportunity with this event to showcase Glasgow in its best light and many in the city will be striving to ensure this happens. We will have to wait and see.