Road-marking company lands multi-million pound Olympic deal
A ROAD-MARKING company has struck gold with its biggest-ever contract – to mark out special transport routes for the stars of the London 2012 Olympics.
The multi-million pound deal will see WJ Roadmarkings, in Knutton, mark out a network of priority roads linking all the major Games venues.
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The 109-mile Olympic Route Network (ORN) will include more than 30 miles of 'Games Lanes', which can only be used by athletes, officials, media and some sponsors.
Around 100 WJ staff will be working on the project which will see 8,000 temporary markings laid onto the route.
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WJ operations director Martin Webb said: "This is the biggest contract we've ever undertaken and I suspect it will remain the biggest.
"All the employees have been very keen to be a part of it. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
"It's a very prestigious contract and it's been very intense and challenging – the planning has been like a military operation.
"The route stretches between all the venues, including Wembley, Lords Cricket Ground, Horse Guards Parade and the Olympic Village.
"It goes down as far as Greenwich for the riding events, to Woolwich for the shooting, all along the Embankment and down to Wimbledon, and all the way out on the A4 and the M4 to Heathrow."
Work on the project starts on July 1 and the ORN becomes active on July 25, two days before the start of the Games.
The system will be deactivated at the end of the event – only to be reactivated on a smaller scale two weeks later for the Paralympic Games.
WJ employs 240 people, including 120 at its Brock Lane headquarters. It also has bases in West Yorkshire and Somerset.
Stafford production firm Humanoid will be following the project after being commissioned by WJ to make a promotional film.
Managing director and Staffordshire University graduate Martyn Lomax, of Bradwell, said: "It's fantastic for us to be associated with something like this."
Transport for London, which is responsible for the ORN, is advising motorists to avoid central London during the Games. It says the network will be crucial in making sure athletes, officials and the world's media make it to the various events on time.
WJ Roadmarkings is one of many North Staffordshire and South Cheshire firms to have benefited from the Olympics.
Companies which have won contracts linked to the Games include Bakers Coaches in Biddulph, Barlaston pottery giant Wedgwood, Johnson Tiles in Tunstall and The Oriental Rug Gallery in Newcastle.
Comments
by Alberus
Saturday, June 16 2012, 4:55PM
“Is this company aware, I wonder, that no reference must be made in their publicity material or website, to any connection to, or work done in connection with, the Olympic Games? It may well be a lucrative contract, but the firm will not be in a position to win further business through their connection with the Games. If that sounds ludicrous, it is, because the "Government's" avowed aim is to help businesses as this country stands helplessly in the wings awaiting the fallout from the collapse of the Eurozone. Funny old world, innit?”
by camband
Friday, June 15 2012, 9:14PM
“It's all a long way from the Banana Docks.”
by Clem51
Friday, June 15 2012, 4:56PM
“What a good idea. Do it Wivens, do it! Teach the bu99ars a lesson! Could cause untold chaos! ha ha.”
by E_D_Wivens
Friday, June 15 2012, 10:50AM
“Although I could go down and spend the day letting tyres down, just to see how well the Zil lanes function with a minor holdup :)”
by E_D_Wivens
Friday, June 15 2012, 10:45AM
“These are the infamous "Zil" lanes, so nicknamed after the senior Party members' limousines in the Soviet Union, as they had special reserved lanes all to themselves. So for "MacDonalds\Coca-Cola\Nike\Sony London 2012" (am I allowed to use that without fear of breaching copyright?) the already appalling and restricive London road system, which already has bus lanes and cycle lanes, will have yet another lane taken away for "Olympic-only" traffic - most of which will be IOC officials,corporate executives, and media types, not actual sportsmen or women, you understand. Least of all spectators.
30 miles of London's busiest roads, including the Mall, Park Lane and parts of the Embankment will have Zil lanes which will be closed to ordinary traffic from 6am to midnight. Any unauthorised vehicle venturing into them will face a penalty charge, originally set at £200 but now reduced to £130. Officials and executives could have stayed in hotels at Canary Wharf, just over a mile away from the main stadium in Stratford. Instead, many are in Park Lane, an 18-mile round trip. With an extra three million people expected to use the Tube, regular commuters are even being warned to stay away altogether from some stations, such as London Bridge, and where possible to work from home.
It is now being referred to by Londoners as the "gridlock games" - I was offered the chance to go, free tickets and all that, and to use our corporate account at the Royal Horseguards, but I declined, never enjoying Londinium at the best of times. Dreadful place.”