The contract to provide temporary power to the 2014 Ryder Cup has been awarded to Aggreko. 

The leading lessor or power and temperature control solutions will provide 17 MW of power and back-up support on location at Gleneagles. 

Aggreko will also air-condition the media centre, hospitality units, tented village and other temporary infrastructure.

In total, Aggreko will be helping to power and cool around 40 different major temporary structures at the Gleneagles site.

The 2014 Ryder Cup will deploy Aggreko’s especially quiet TwinPack generators, which will minimise sound emissions from power production in and around the golf course.

An half a billion homes in 183 countries worldwide are expected to watch the event. As technical power is crucial for broadcasting, Aggreko will use around 600 distribution boards to connect and feed power supplies around the course. 

"Aggreko has vast experience of providing temporary power and temperature control solutions at golf tournaments,” said Angus Cockburn, interim CEO of Aggreko, which has its headquarters in nearby Glasgow.

“Doing so at The 2014 Ryder Cup, which is on our doorstep and is perhaps higher profile than any previous tournament is a great privilege.”

Other major sports events that Aggreko has provided services for include nine Olympic and Paralympic Games, five FIFA World Cups, four Ryder Cups in Europe and the XX Commonwealth Games.

"Aggreko is yet another global business with firm Scottish roots to join us at The 2014 Ryder Cup,” said Edward Kitson, match director of the 2014 Ryder Cup. “Their expertise and experience at previous sporting events, both at golf tournaments and others with international broadcast power requirements, will be invaluable.”

The 2014 Ryder Cup takes place at The Gleneagles Hotel, Auchterarder, Perthshire, Scotland from 26-28 September, 2014.

With the extended timeframe for the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) now passed, any hope of a bid from New Delhi for the 2019 Asian Games has now faded. 

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) on Thursday told the IOA that they have a “couple of days” to submit the bid documents required for New Delhi to be considered to host the Asian Games in 2019. 

That window of opportunity has now closed, the IOA confirmed on Monday. 

To submit a bid, the IOA needed full political backing and had requested an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was only elected in May. 

"We failed in our efforts to meet the Prime Minister,” IOA secretary general Rajeev Mehta told Reuters. 

The IOA had sought a 15-day extension, but this request was rejected by the OCA.

"Honestly, the time was too short. There's no one to blame ... neither the government nor the IOA. We tried our best but it was not enough.

"There is no more chance of bidding for the 2019 Asian Games."

The host of the 2019 Asian Games was originally elected to be Hanoi at an OCA meeting in Macau in November 2012. However, the Vietnamese government withdrew Hanoi from hosting the event, leaving the OCA seeking a replacement. The deadline for applying for candidacy for the Games was set as 1 July 2014.

New Delhi had already put in a bit for the 2014 Asian Games, which takes place from 19 September to 4 October, but it lost out to the South Korean city of Incheon. The OCA is due to announce the new host city of the 2019 Asian Games on 20 September, 2014.

Impressed by their legacy plans, the International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s Executive Board today unanimously agreed to progress applicant cities Almaty, Beijing and Oslo to the candidate city phase as they vie to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

The IOC would have had a larger pool of cities to choose from, had Krakow, Lviv and Stockholm not already pulled out of the race. Despite losing half of the potential bidders along the way, the rights holder of the world’s greatest multi-sports event asserted that candidature was by no means a guarantee for the three remaining contenders. 

"Three is a good number to go forward," said IOC vice president John Coates. "If there was one of those that wasn't of quality we wouldn't have sent it forward."

The decision of the Executive Board was based on a technical analysis of applications submitted earlier in 2014, assessing areas such as venues, transport, accommodation and security.

The IOC noted that all three bids have the potential to benefit the host cities and regions. 

“Each city was encouraged to produce a bid best suited to their own unique circumstances, with plans that reflect their own specific vision for how the Games can benefit their cities and regions and ensure positive, sustainable legacies for their populations. Oslo, Almaty and Beijing have done that,” the IOC said in a statement.

The legacy plans differ in focus: Oslo aims to engage young people and the population as a whole in a healthier lifestyle; Almaty plans to use the Games to attract people to the city for future events of all kinds; while Beijing’s plans focus on boosting Winter sports in China. 

”It was good to see that each of the bidding cities understood the difference between the Olympic Games budget and the long-term infrastructure and investment budget, which will benefit their communities for decades to come,” said IOC President Thomas Bach.

“The Executive Board is confident that the future hosts of the Olympic Winter Games can break even with the Olympic Games budget – as Vancouver has just announced for the Olympic Winter Games 2010. Or, as in the case of Sochi, make a considerable profit, which they project to be in the range of 200 million dollars.

“This is possible not least because of the extensive financial assistance given by the IOC. In the case of Sochi, this amounted to USD 750 million and it is likely that figure will be even higher for the host of the Olympic Winter Games 2022.”

The three cities must submit their detailed candidature files – or “bid books” – by January 2015, when the IOC will begin the process of evaluating the bids and finally electing the host city at the IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur on 31 July 2015.

To find out more about the bidding process for the Olympic Games and other major events, register to attend HOST CITY: Bid to Win, which takes place in London on 28th October.

The World Fireworks Championship has launched the process of identifying a host city for the event for 2015 and beyond, making it one of the world’s biggest artistic events that moves from one city to another.

“We are incredibly excited about the opportunity that the World Fireworks Championship has to offer a host city, as one of only a few major arts events that move from city to city around the world delivering very significant economic returns,” said Angus Buchanan, joint managing director of The Sports Consultancy. 

The Sports Consultancy has partnered with event producer, World Fireworks Productions with the aim of making the championships into “one of the world’s great travelling arts events”.  

The process of identifying a host city for the event from 2015 onwards begins today. 

“We are realistically looking for a 2015 host who will then host the next two editions before it rotates annually,” said Lucy Caillé, senior consultant at the Sports Consultancy told HOST CITY. 

The launch of the bid process coincides with an overhaul of the format of the event. Choreographing fireworks to music, the new look World Fireworks Championship will pit six of the world’s most celebrated fireworks companies against each other, competing for their countries over three weekends to become World Fireworks Champion.  

An interactive ‘Art of Light Festival’ will run alongside the championships with the aim of creating a busy programme of family orientated exhibitions and installations.

The event has also just announced its first commercial partner, global travel provider, TUI Event Group, who will will create and market bespoke travel packages to the host destination. 

“We believe the World Fireworks Championship event will be an enormously attractive destination marketing package,” said Chad Lion-Chachet, managing director, TUI Event Group.

“The event blends fireworks' universal appeal with the ability to showcase the city in, literally, the best possible light.  We’re really delighted to work with the team to develop the event as a “once in a lifetime” experience.”

The 2010 World Fireworks Championships in Oman attracted an audience of over 750,000 making it the largest ever spectator event in the Sultanate’s history and was won by Lacroix-Ruggieri representing France.

World Fireworks Productions CEO Mark Wooding said: “The 2010 Championship in Oman was incredibly successful, by far exceeding expectations and creating huge public excitement and enormous crowds. 

“Our plans for the future promise to take the Championship to new heights and we’re really looking forward to finding a host partner to share in our development of the World Fireworks Championship to make it one of the world’s greatest festivals.”

Potential host cities have been invited to submit an expression of interest by contacting the organisers at hosting@worldfireworkschampionship.com

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA)’s request for a 15-day extension to Tuesday’s deadline for bidding for the Asian Games has been refused. 

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has instead told the IOA that they have a “couple of days” to submit the bid documents required for New Delhi to be considered to host the Asian Games in 2019.

Hanoi was originally selected as the host of the 2019 Asian Games at an OCA meeting in Macau in November 2012. However, the Vietnamese government withdrew Hanoi from hosting the event, leaving the OCA seeking a replacement. 

The deadline for applying for candidacy for the Games was set as 1 July 2014. The IOA wrote to the OCA requesting a 15-day extension on this deadline, a request that was refused in a letter replying to the IOA. 

“I regret to inform you that due to the extreme shortage of time, it is impossible for the OCA to extend the deadline any further,” said OCA Director General Husain Al Musallam in a letter to IOA Secretary General Rajeev Mehta.

“Within this two month period we need to establish the evaluation team that will visit the bidding cities and submit its report to the OCA Executive Board on 19th September. 

"However, if you are able to still submit the guarantees within the next couple of days, OCA is willing to consider IOA's bid very positively."

Gaining the necessary approval from the various government ministries involved in such a short space of time will be a major challenge for India.

The Indonesian city of Surabaya, which lost out to Hanoi in the original bidding process, is no longer a candidate as it is hosting the 2021 Asian Youth Games. 

However, a bid from another Indonesian city is considered mostly likely to win the race to host the 2019 Asian Games. On a visit to Jakarta in May, the OCA’s honorary life vice-president Wei Jizhong said "I don't think other competitors can offer better conditions than Indonesia for the time being."

Singapore, Malaysia and possibly Qatar are also said to have expressed interest in hosting the 2019 Asian Games.

The OCA is due to announce the new host city on 20 September, 2014.

Cities around the world are expressing their interest in hosting World Expos, with the hosts of the International Exposition in 2023 and Universal Exposition in 2025 expected to be determined over the next two to three years. 

The geographical location of the city and the sustainability of the project will be among the decisive factors, according to Vincente Loscertales, secretary general of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE). 

Speaking to HOST CITY about why Dubai was awarded the right to host World Expo 2020, Loscertales said “The policy of the organisation is to move Expos to new regions and particular regions which are the link between continents, between other regions.”

Traditionally, World Expos have either taken place in Western Europe, North America or Japan. However, in recent years, as with many major global events, the trend has been towards moving Expos to pastures new such as the Far East – in the case of Shanghai 2010 – and most recently, the Middle East. 

Expo 2017 was awarded to the Kazak capital Astana whilst Expo 2020 will take place in the emirate of Dubai. “Moving the Expo to the Middle East is to take the Expo to a hub; to a place that is a link in trade, transport and financial systems between continents. From this point of view, Dubai is an excellent showcase,” said Loscertales.

“In the case of Dubai, it’s to bring it to a region which is sometimes better known because of conflict, and to show how an Expo in this area will contribute to a better knowledge of the whole region. It is the first time an Expo will take place in an Arabic, Muslim country.”

A whole range of cities from both East and West, are lining up to be considered for the 2025 World Expo. Whilst there are possible bids from Chinese, Russian and Iranian cities, the Expo’s founding fathers London and Paris are also in the mix. 

“We are also in talks with some American cities – Houston and San Francisco. We have also received news from Azerbaijan that they would like to host an Expo in Baku in 2025.”

With the cost of bidding for a World Expo running to as much as US$ 100m, the BIE is keen to make sure that interested cities proceed with their eyes open. Before a city formally bids to host a World Expo, the requirements of hosting the event are explained in a preliminary conversation with the BIE – what Loscertales describes as a “pre-dialogue”.

The result should be a handful of strong candidates. “I anticipate that we will consolidate three to five bids from all the applications,” says Loscertales.

Sustainability must be at the core of both the theme and the planned delivery of an Expo bid. “The duty of our organisation when we evaluate an Expo project is first of all to see how this Expo project is integrated with the environment.”

Loscertales also discussed the progress of Expo 2015 in Milan, which has been hit by construction delays and police investigations into alleged corruption in the awarding of contracts. 

“The political environment is complicated,” said Loscertales. “We have to be optimistic and I am convinced that in May we are going to open the gates of a very beautiful exhibition in Milan.”

To read the full interview with Vincente Loscertales, register to receive HOST CITY magazine

The Glastonbury Festival has secured a new premises licence that will enable it to continue to hold the event at Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset, until 2024.

The new application received only a few representations, of which all concerns were satisfied by the deadline. In the past, Glastonbury Festival's licences have been subject to scrutiny in a public hearing because of objections from the public or concerns from those with an interest in the safety of the event such as the police, fire or ambulance services.

As one of the world’s largest cultural events without any permanent infrastructure, Glastonbury Festival requires large amounts of temporary event infrastructure and seasonal operational expertise. 

Ensuring safety at the music festival will fall under the watch of Nigel Hunt, building control manager at Mendip District Council and interim head of the proposed Somerset Building Control Partnership.

“This is an enormous festival and no one can afford to be complacent – we will continue to work with the organisers to ensure this remains one of the safest events anywhere, and if we have any doubts about this we will take action,” said Mr Hunt. 

“Thankfully, this year everything went without a hitch and my team did a superb job as ever.”

His structures monitoring team, which already has many years of Glastonbury Festival experience, is responsible for all temporary structures including the Avalon Inn, the Irish Piano Bar and the new BBC studio in The Park, as well as all the stages and platforms.

Building control teams are involved as part of the licensing team at sporting and cultural events. 

“This is my second year working at Glastonbury and I still can’t believe the size and scale of the festival, the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes and the number of miles the building control team have to walk every day on their shifts,” said local authority building control (LABC) director of training Anna Thompson, who attended this year’s festival as part of the structures monitoring team for Mendip District Council.

For the first time, Tokyo last week welcomed the International Olympic Committee’s Coordination Commission, which found that the city was on the right path towards hosting an excellent Olympic Games in 2020. 

“The Organising Committee and its government partners have got off to a quick start and are putting in place solid foundations for the next six years of preparations,” said John Coates, the chairman the body of experts tasked with assessing and facilitating the city’s progress. 

“We are very pleased with Tokyo 2020’s progress under the leadership of President Yoshiro Mori.”

In addition to chairing the Coordination Commission for Tokyo 2020, Coates is on the Coordination Commission for Rio 2016. His praise of Tokyo 2020 is in direct contrast with the concerns he raised over Rio 2016 in recent months. 

Where delays have been described as “critical” in Rio, Tokyo is off to a “quick start”. And while Rio 2016 has been criticised for poor communication between different levels of government, Tokyo 2020 has benefited from good coordination within government.

“The close cooperation of all levels of government with Tokyo 2020 was clearly felt by the Commission, particularly following our meeting with Prime Minister Abe and with Governor Masuzoe’s participation in the visit,” said Coates. 

“Their support for the Games, as well as the support of many high-profile Japanese personalities through the Tokyo 2020 Advisory Meeting, are greatly appreciated, and will stand the 2020 Games in good stead. Their commitment underlines that Tokyo 2020 is for all Japan, and is encouraging Japanese everywhere to get behind these Games and see how they can engage in helping Tokyo to welcome the world in 2020.”

Yoshiro Mori, President of Tokyo 2020 said “Even though our team consists of members of the sporting community, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the national government and various related organisations, I was able to gain a real sense that all members of the Organising Committee were pulling together in the same direction as a truly integrated unit. Over the next six years, the members of the Coordination Commission and the Organising Committee will work together as a united team, all sailing in the same boat towards a shared objective, and I believe we have got off to an excellent start.

“However, the members of the Commission did point out one or two things that need addressing. We will of course be incorporating all the advice we received into our preparations for the Games at the earliest opportunity.”

Venue review

The Commission visited many venues in the “Bay Zone” including the Velodrome, Gymnastic Centre, Tennis Park, Olympic Village, Tokyo Big Sight, Aquatics Centre, Wakasu Olympic Arena and Sea Forest venues. Twelve of Tokyo 2020’s venues are already existing, including four originally built for the 1964 Olympic Games. 

The visit took place at a time when Tokyo 2020 has been reviewing the venue plans outlined in its bid, amid widespread speculation about the implications of this review. This review was sparked by the observations of the IOC Evaluation Commission, which monitored the city’s bid for the Games. 

In a statement, the IOC said “The review will not affect the core principles of the bid. The objective is to refine the legacy and operational assumptions of Tokyo’s plans. The Tokyo organisers are looking to ensure that their Games leave a sustainable long-term legacy to the host city and its citizens. The review is being carried out in cooperation with all the key national and international stakeholders.

“The legacy vision and objectives are consistent with discussions around Olympic Agenda 2020, a process that will provide an ambitious strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement.”

Mori said “With regard to the review of our venue plan, I informed the Coordination Commission that, based on such aspects as the kind of legacy we will leave, the impact of the Games on the lives of Tokyo residents and the cost of construction and maintenance of the venues, the Organising Committee will examine all issues closely and collaborate with the IOC, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), and both domestic and international sports federations, to ensure the success of the Games.”

Many will be looking forward to the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games this summer purely because of the sporting action that will be taking place across Scotland’s largest city, with stars such as Mo Farah set to be competing. However, in recent years major sporting events have not only been required to provide a city full of the best in sporting stadiums and facilities but also a comprehensive cultural programme.

The Cultural Olympiad, which took place as part of the London 2012 Summer Olympics, included artists from across the country taking part in large scale cultural events. The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games is planning a similar array of arts projects to take place around the Games.

Organisers have called the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme an ‘unprecedented nationwide programme of activity’ that includes 200 projects and exhibitions and over 800 events. The programme is split into two separate brands: Culture 2014, which is a longer term project that is taking place across Scotland, and Festival 2014, which is the Glasgow-based side of the project that will run alongside side the sporting activities. 

Culture 2014 is set to include dance performances, stand-up comedy and theatre projects across Scotland which will aim to involve a large number of people from a wide range of backgrounds. Festival 2014 will then provide two weeks of culture and arts in the host city of Glasgow, which organisers hope will act as a celebration of the Games. 

A sporting and cultural event

The head of this ambitious cultural programme is Jill Miller. She says the cultural function of the Commonwealth Games is now a key element of the event that needs to be integrated in with the sporting aspects. 

“The organising committee for the Games has been very clear about this, it is a sporting and cultural event,” explains Miller. “I think that’s something that’s changed. What we’re really keen on is that this is about strengthening what’s happening in the city to make the city the very best host is possibly can be.”

Miller experienced the cultural side of the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Manchester and Delhi and she says this experience has given her team a great insight into how best to put together a cultural programme. 

“We went to look at what was happening in terms of how these festivals were delivered. We came back from all of those experiences and developed a model in Glasgow that was about engaging with our existing cultural sectors, to make sure they had the opportunity to accelerate their ambitions.”

Legacy is often cited as one of the key aspects of any cities’ bid to host a major sports event, but this is usually looked upon from a sporting and infrastructure perspective. In London the regeneration of the East End and the lasting effects of inspirational sporting achievements were cited as key parts of the legacy of the 2012 Olympic Games. 

However, Miller wants to also include the legacy element of the Games into the cultural programme. “I would suggest the festival we have in the city is much more integrated into the plans and the developments for the future… what we’re trying to do is get people to come back post 2014,” she says.

Host with the most

As part of this legacy, the programme aims to promote the host city to the rest of the Commonwealth, and vice versa, through working with a range of government bodies and wider international organisations. “This is absolutely about showcasing Scotland and Glasgow within the Commonwealth and working with the Commonwealth in a way that we can actually showcase them in Scotland and Glasgow.

To read the rest of this feature, register to receive the next issue of HOST CITY magazine

HOST CITY: How has the influence of women on sports administration developed throughout your career?

Liz Nicholl: I have held positions at national level in sport for over 30 years, and when I started out the industry was male-dominated and the voice of women in sport was rarely heard.

My breakthrough came as a young CEO of England Netball in the 1980s; my national leadership role placed me in an environment where I was able to see that I was just as good as the majority of individuals in similar, significant roles. I gained confidence from colleagues and I now say to others “Don’t hold yourself back. If someone you respect thinks you can do it, you can!”

Over the years I have seen some progress but it’s been slow. The need for diversity in leadership is now much more widely accepted in business. Change is happening in sport but it is slower and held back by tradition.

At a government level, ministers are more outspoken on equality matters and more people are listening. This national profile and debate is ensuring that the momentum is increasing but there is still a long way to go.

There are now more role models and more signs of change. Baroness Sue Campbell was Chair of UK Sport for over 10 years and now across the five UK, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland government agencies for sport, four or the five CEOs are women.

HOST CITY: How successful is the sports sector at boosting women's representation at executive / senior management level?

Liz Nicholl: When I look across the cohort of CEOs and chairs of National Federations of sport, there are a relatively small number of women – but we are seeing a shift at board level.

There is an expectation placed on funded sports by UK Sport and Sport England that all sport boards should be made up of at least 25 per cent women by 2017. Currently over 90 per cent of the sports we fund have women Board members and the UK Sport Board is made up of 40 per cent women.

HOST CITY: What still needs to be done to make further progress?

Liz Nicholl: We need more women in coaching generally and especially at a high performance level. We are looking into what some of the barriers might be while at the same time providing and a programme to support athletes, with an emphasis on women athletes, transitioning into coaching.

The biggest challenge is the limited media coverage of women’s sport. Better, balanced media coverage would unlock enormous potential and sponsorship and could massively increase the momentum for positive change. We will be hosting the Women’s Hockey World Cup in 2018 and have ambitions for other events to shine the media light more specifically on women in sport.

Personally, as a woman working in an influential role within British sport, I know there is more I could be doing to keep this issue visible and to challenge where I see inappropriate inequalities and I am determined to do so.

Liz Nicholl OBE is the Chief Executive of UK Sport. To read the full interview, register to receive the next issue of HOST CITY magazine