These are the top 15 people at the ODA and its partner CLM who will make the London Games happen. Katie Puckett asked each of them what their biggest challenges will be...




1.

Finishing the marathon of negotiating the contracts for and subsequent delivering of all infrastructure and venues safely and to programme for the 2012 Games.

Celia Cartwright, ODA’s head of legal

2.

My personal challenge will be to not only deliver the platform for the best Games ever and the future legacy development but also to make a difference to the way the British construction industry is viewed – [and to survive at this relentless pace]!

Simon Wright, ODA director of infrastructure and utilities.

3.

To create an environment where all the participants can give of their best and to ensure everyone works in a decent environment and goes home safe every day.

Howard Shiplee, director of construction

4.

This is a marathon, not a sprint, and my personal challenge, along with the bigger challenge of ensuring we deliver world class venues, infrastructure and regeneration, is to pace myself. I will also be encouraging staff to take some time out when they can so that we all get through this with our sanity in tact. No one can work above capacity all of the time.

David Higgins, ODA chief executive

5.

Jack Lemley, former chairman of the ODA. This photo was taken before Jack Lemley resigned from his post in October.

6CLM’s single focus is to help the ODA deliver world class facilities for the 2012 Games with a legacy to match. I’d like to see all partners embrace a collaborative approach to produce a landmark environment of which everyone can be proud for years to come.

Ray O’Rourke, CLM chair

7.

My biggest personal challenge is to do enough on this huge programme to ensure that everyone, every day, goes home healthy and well.

Lawrence Waterman, head of health and safety

8.

My biggest personal challenge will be satisfying all the numerous stakeholders in equal proportions.

Ralph Luck, director of property

9.

The whole team at London 2012 will be giving our all to the project, but we need to ensure that we retain some of our sanity and health so that we can enjoy the fruits of our labour well into the legacy that we are all working so hard to achieve.

Alison Nimmo, ODA director of design and regeneration

10.

My challenge is ensure that corporate services work hand in glove and as a team with those delivering on the ground so that the facilities and sustainable legacy are provided to time and budget.

Denis Hone, director of finance and corporate services

11.

To process all the Olympic planning applications in a timely fashion while still subjecting the applications to rigorous scrutiny.

Viv Ramsey, ODA head of planning decisions

12.

To use best practice in an innovative way to develop and deliver the optimum supply chain across the whole of the Olympic programme.

Morag Stuart, ODA head of procurement

13.

Working in partnership with the Olympic family to communicate the scale and legacy ambition of the Olympic and Paralympic project to a wide range of audiences – and hopefully play some small part in helping inspire them with its vision.

Godric Smith, ODA director of communications

14.

Delivering transport for the Games has been described as the biggest peacetime transport task that any nation can undertake. The challenge is to weld our transport industry together to deliver an integrated transport service across all modes, to all venues, for all client groups.

Reuel Abrams, ODA transport programme director

15.

This is a highly enjoyable job and there would never be enough hours in the day to do it justice, so prioritising is vital to maintaining the right perspective.

Wendy Cartwright, head of PR