If the locals want to work and can work, than hopefully they will work.

Tarry wrote:

If the locals want to work and can work, than hopefully they will work.

sorry i dont really understand that comment ?

You commented about a shopping centre been built, and about the locals working in it, and I was commenting on that, that's all, ie, if the locals want to work, and can work that basically it's a great opportunity for them.

Does anyone know of anyone that has gained employment due to the Olympics being held in the uk

My husband is an electrician Vic . We live 15 minutes away in the london borough of Redbridge . As far as the construction of the stadium and Olympic village goes Like many others he waited in hope of getting the chance to work on the Olympic stadium but it had been pretty much a closed shop to genuine local or in fact british workers until a bout 12/18 months ago . He did manage to get work there on the village for around 6 months last year but it wasnt a nice place to work . Being a sub contractor and moving around the london construction sites he has come across very few genuine locals or British that actually worked there .i think that tells you something !!

As chris says the westfield shopping centre has created many many jobs in retail and that will be there to stay for the long term but again our workers had very little to do with the actual constructionof it .. It's not good for our youngers here that should have had the opportunity for jobs in construction.

Getting back to where it began, I wonder how many uk were picked on the building of the Olympic stadium. Did local company's get a fair share of the work. Or did it get contracted out to company's further afield. You here rumours. But it would be nice to know that the locals helped .

We posted at he same time Lyn

From what he saw when he was there .. 80% from Eastern europe Vic .. They made a fine job of building our stadium not the British Im afraid .

British companies Vic but much of it sold off to smaller contractors who employed cheap labour from elsewhere . We didnt stand a chance

My husband works for a British company and has done for the last 20+ years. They employ people from all over the UK working as Ground Engineers, they were involved, as previously mentioned, as having worked on the Stadium.

I think there is the usual bit of apathy that us Brits seem to have about big events like this , mainly fuelled by the media but I think it will turn out great , a couple of months ago there was the same bit of apathy about the Queen's Jubilee ( another bank holiday , loss of trade , bad for the economy ) yet after that fantastic concert it really made me feel so proud to be British , we do have a wonderful country with a colourful history and great character , ok so everything's not perfect but where is ? I'm sure that we will feel the same about the Olympics very soon , and we will show why we are called GREAT Britain . It's just that it takes us a bit to get excited !

Well I'm thoroughly looking forward to the Olympics - I doubt if I'll see it hosted here, again, in my life time so am going to enjoy it no matter what.

I agree that Stratford itself has been smartened uo. Pity that its 'gentrification' will have put its new delights out of reach of many, if not most, or the original locals. That's progress of course and has happened throughout much of the old East End of London and many other parts of the country.

I only know how the construction industry has been affected because all of my family work in it . My husband is working on a network rail project and that will all have to halt or at the best a small tick over staff, An industry already suffering badly but that oks we are told just to Stay away .. Are they on another planet !!! . As Denny has said many sites will have to shut because of the understandable security implications with scalfolding etc having to come down . I do so hope it is all just scaremongering ,we will ride it out and hope everything goes ok .

I agree though Andy ,despite our concerns here for the way it will and already is effecting us during the coming weeks the Olympics themselves will I hope be a big success . I wont be watching any of the actual events because Im not into sport but we will once again be proud to be British & put on a fantastic show .. Drive past the site and it all looks very impressive now .

So no one will miss anything?

Apart from the sport, if you're away what overall about the Olympics will you be saddest to miss?

If I was away, I'd be sad to miss the whole shebang, including the opening/closing ceremony, the fireworks, London our beautiful Capital city being there on top of the world stage, and just the feeling of being immensely proud of who I am and what we are as a country.

There's enough people who take pleasure in knocking the British down, and I personally don't want to hear it and especially from fellow Brits, so, whether I was interested in sport or not, I hope the games are a success.

Sanji

I hope the games are a success too. They will only be here once in my lifetime anyway.

Our firm has done alot of the marking out, all the lines you will see have been done by us. We have been doing bits and bobs on this project in phases for over 2 years now. That said, although the work has been good to have for our firm..it has been an actual nightmare being allowed even on to site.

Each firm that goes on there has to have a site induction - which is fair enough...but to have this EVERY time you have to work on the site AND be charged for the privilige of doing it is a little ridiculous.
The security has been a nightmare, getting accomodation down there has been difficult and there are so many daft rules and regulations it is incredible. We are actually there all this week finishing off..we are doing the athletes warm up area and the general area where the medals are presented.

We are a northern based firm but work nationwide and sometimes it has been a logistical nightmare for us..especially when we have been booked in to work, we turn up and someone in some place of higher authority has forgot to sort the security passes and our crews then waste an entire day getting them, then we have to be re-inducted, then this, then that...but by the time all the red tape is sorted, it is too late to do any work as the site is closed for the evening and we have to go back and do it all again the next day. This bumps our costs up as we have to pay for accomodation and stop out allowance for the crews, as well as pay them to be sat around in a lorry waiting for the authorities to sort themselves out...time our crew could have been doing another job that would earn our firm some money!!!

I love sport and will be watching when I can...

You've said exactly what my husband said Val regarding security, inductions, getting in and out of the site etc.

I'm glad I'm not away as I wouldn't want to miss any part of the ceremony, I'll be glued to the TV on opening night (and probably getting a lump in my throat)

Dave even had to get written permission/authority to bring his own tools home

There's enough people who take pleasure in knocking the British down, and I personally don't want to hear it and especially from fellow Brits, so, whether I was interested in sport or not, I hope the games are a success.

Sanji