Zaun has helped to allay the scepticism of a Birmingham Post Olympics writer in a column in today’s newspaper.
Peter Sharkey admits that his default position has barely budged beyond healthy scepticism for more than six years, borne of deep mistrust of government figures, particularly predictions and claims that have a sorry tendency to range from the obviously selective to the clearly massaged for overtly political purposes.
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He says it’s not so much a ‘typical hack’s attitude’, as the view of someone who read economics at the University of Bristol then trained and worked as an accountant for seven years.
But Peter admits that Zaun is an ‘Olympic success story.
His column says: ‘Following a successful tender in 2008, the company is responsible for supplying 17 kilometres of security fencing around the Olympic Park.
‘This gave rise to several other contract successes, including the supply of six kilometres of high-security electric fencing and gates at the Athletes’ Village in 2010.
‘Zaun’s marketing manager Ian Wright is unequivocal about the effect these successes have had on the business. “Undoubtedly, other doors have opened for us because of the work we’ve done at the Olympic Park,” he says, adding that Zaun’s profile has risen markedly as a consequence.
‘Not only has the firm delivered, but it has also developed temporary and permanent products and systems with sporting and other applications. For example, it has created a temporary solution to prevent a vehicle attack in the Games’ secure zone.
‘“The solution was developed to meet a specific Olympic requirement,” says Mr Wright, “but we feel it is adaptable enough to have other uses once the Games have ended.”
‘With a raft of high-profile sporting events on the horizon, including the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the World Cup in Brazil in 2014, Zaun have every right to feel they’re sufficiently well placed to secure additional contracts at these or other events.
‘It’s an attitude prevalent amongst Midlands’ business leaders.
‘Paul Deighton, chief executive of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, maintains that: “The most significant tangible benefit of the Games is the £6.5 billion of business between us and the ODA that 2,000 UK companies enjoyed.“
‘That, he says, is “real contracts, real jobs…and real credentials which [companies] can then use, with their expertise, to get future business. [It] is a massive fillip for the UK economy.” Even sceptics couldn’t argue with that.’
Read the full column here.
