We were part of AECOM’s successful bid to design the masterplan for the Rio 2016 Olympic Park.

Sustainability Strategy

Our role involved producing a Sustainability Strategy for the Olympic Park site, and providing strategic and technical advice to the AECOM design teams, and Empresa Olimpica Municipal (client).

The Sustainability Strategy set out objectives and targets under 6 thematic areas, specifically LEED certification, energy, water, ecology, materials and waste, and transport. These thematic contributed to the development of a Park that provided a rich visitor experience during the Games. The Strategy set out the mechanisms that needed to be put in place to ensure that objectives were delivered through design, procurement and construction and support a sustainable legacy for Rio de Janeiro.

Water Strategy

Water was identified as a key sustainability theme in Rio’s bid for the Olympic Games. Building on our experience of developing the Water Strategy for the London 2012 Olympic Park, we produced the Sustainable Water Strategy for the 300 acre triangular site in Barra da Tijuca.

The strategy covered water supply, wastewater collection and treatment, surface water drainage and integration with the adjacent Jacarepagua Lagoon. Our strategy reviewed the strategic aims formulated as part of the bid, and how best they could be implemented considering the impacts on local water resources and water infrastructure, whole life costs, energy and materials use, resilience and conversion to Legacy. We reviewed the merits of rainwater harvesting, greywater and blackwater recycling and proposed a number of measures to reduce water demand.

We also carried out a detailed review of the large storage requirements for water supply.