Dennis Hone says Olympic marketing restrictions are 鈥渘o straightjacket鈥�
Strict rules on Olympic marketing are 鈥渘ot doing any harm鈥� to 2012 firms wanting to capitalise on their achievements, the chief executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) today claimed.
Speaking at a media briefing on Olympic venues, Dennis Hone appeared to contradict the view of ODA chairman Sir John Armitt, whose recent legacy report to the government called on it to take 鈥渦rgent action鈥� to relax the no marketing rights protocol, enforced by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG).
好色先生TV has used its 2012 campaign to highlight complaints from firms that the protocol has gagged them as they seek to capitalise on their achievements.
Hone said: 鈥淵ou have to recognise that although it may be an irritation to some of the constructors鈥t hasn鈥檛 stopped them from utilising their experience on the Olympic park and the 2012 games in terms of making bids for other projects.
鈥淎 lot of our companies have been very successful around the world so it is not doing them any harm.
鈥淵es there are restrictions in terms of general publicity but they are able to use [their experience] in a very targeted way when bidding.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not the straightjacket that it is sometimes portrayed to be.鈥�
In its response to Armitt鈥檚 report, the government said it would have to liase on relaxing the protocol with the organisation which will inherit it from Locog, the British Olympic Association, and estimated that no solution would be found before 2013.
Hone defended this proposed timetable, saying it was important not to produce a 鈥渉alf-baked鈥� solution.
He said: 鈥淭hey have to look at all the different angles鈥nd I think it is right that they take time to get the right solution.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important they get it right rather than rush the solution.鈥�
RIBA president Angela Brady, who was also part of the panel addressing the media, said architects should promote their Olympic work but said it was not appropriate for her to criticise the rules.
She said: 鈥淭hese buildings are quite big. It鈥檚 quite hard to hide them so I don鈥檛 think that many of these buildings will be out of the public view.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 actually make these rules so it is not for us to comment on that.鈥�
after it emerged that architects had been held back from entering Olympic buildings into awards.
Last week Brady said it was wrong that efforts to uphold the rights of Olympic sponsors were harming smaller companies and called the siutation a 鈥渓ost opportunity to showcase the very best of British architecture on a world stage鈥�.
鈥淸The protocol] is wrongly holding back the best thing that has happened to London in the past 50 years,鈥� she said.
鈥淚t is not too late for the government to try and rectify some of the damage this has caused.鈥�
Update: Following publication of this story, an ODA spokesman said there was no contradiction between the position of ODA chairman Sir John Armitt and chief executive Dennis Hone on the issue of the no marketing rights protocol and issued this statement from Dennis Hone:
鈥淭he construction project created thousands of opportunities for businesses throughout the country, who have always been able to state their involvement on the project. This includes being able to summarise the nature of their work on company websites and also confirming their involvement to media if approached. They can also in include relevant information within client lists and pitch documents.
鈥淗owever, it is also clear to me that many smaller companies, including professional practices, do feel that there are barriers preventing them from exploiting their involvement in London 2012. That鈥檚 why, our chairman, Sir John Armitt, in his report, rightly called for the restrictions to be eased after the conclusion of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.鈥�
1 Readers' comment