Start up delivery planning for major sporting event

The challenge

To encourage and support the strategy of increasing the uptake of cycling in London, the Greater London Authority (GLA), with direction and support from the Mayor of London, commissioned Transport for London (TfL) to develop, promote and stage a Mass Participation Bike Ride (MPBR) for up to 50,000 participants in London.

With no experience of delivering an event of this type or at the scale required to make this a significant event for London, TfL started planning the MPBR. Whilst this early work involved the development of a number of possible routes and formats for the event, little real progress was being made to clarify the objectives and scope of the project.

The root cause of the problem was the number of passionate stakeholders involved, each holding their own view as to the nature of the event. This was exacerbated further by the lack of an experienced project manager able to provide real delivery focus. The project team required greater direction and clearer governance in order to draw together the diverse stakeholders in to a single delivery vision. The team lacked the tools and experience to deal with the challenges presented by the start up of a complex, highprofile, event-based project with inflexible delivery deadlines.

Our approach

We provided an experienced specialist project manager and support team to manage the set up and delivery of the project. The team:

• Clarified the governance required
• Defined the scope of the event and facilitated consensus from key stakeholders
• Confirmed the route for the event - 80km of roads within London
• Defined the business case for the MPBR
• Established the Project team and the management framework through which the event could be delivered
• Benchmarked other mass participation sporting events globally to ensure the team employed best practice and learnt from the experience of others
• Handed over to a client-based project team once foundational project initiation elements in place

How did this deliver value to the client?

Whilst the project has some way to run to successful delivery, firm foundations are now in place to enable safe and efficient execution of one of the largest mass participation sporting events ever held in the UK. The critical definition stage has now concluded and clarity exists in relation to business case, delivery plan, risk profiles and delivery roles and responsibilities.

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If you would like to talk to us call on the number below. Alternatively, click on the consultants email address, provide us with your details and we will call you back. We look forward to speaking to you. Contact: Email: Tel: Damian Pearce damianpearce@moorhouseconsulting.com +44 (0) 1225 446 313