International Paralympic Committee President Sir Philip Craven Visits Populous’ Offices to Talk About Accessibility – By Richard Breslin & Geraint John
December 19, 2014
Sir Philip Craven with Populous’ Geraint John (L) and Ben Vickery (R) (Image: Nina Sologubenko)
On Friday 5th December, Populous were delighted to welcome Sir Philip Craven MBE, the President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), to our London studio in Putney. This was another opportunity for our architects and designers to engage directly with our clients, and learn more about the first-hand experience of accessibility in international stadia. My colleague Geraint John takes up the story.
With a reputation for being a straight-talking, no-nonsense sports administrator, Sir Philip did not disappoint as he set about enlisting the help of every member of the Populous team in achieving the IPC’s core vision; to enable Paralympic athletes to achieve sporting excellence and inspire and excite the world.
Paying tribute to “London’s amazing Games” and the “fantastic Winter Games in Sochi”, Sir Philip made a passionate case for sport as “life’s great educator” and illustrated how the power of the Paralympics to both surprise and delight spectators has made it an extremely effective vehicle for changing society’s perceptions.
Noting that Populous was the first architectural practice in the UK to invite him to speak to its team, Sir Philip took the opportunity to call for architects and designers to go beyond existing concepts, building codes and established practices and to ‘think outside the box’ in creating facilities that can be used by everybody without exceptions.
Sir Philip addresses architects and designers at Populous’ London studio (Image: Nina Sologubenko)
“If young architects are supported to create barrier-free environments at an early stage in their career, they will continue the habit and it will become standard practice for them and the whole industry. Ramps alone are not the solution”, he said.
Sir Philip also explained how the IPC had developed their vision after London 2012, the most successful Paralympic Games in history, and were seeking to achieve even greater success at Rio 2016 in terms of ensuring equitable, dignified and functional access to facilities for all.
Whereas in London attention was given to a new concept called the “Last Mile” – ensuring that the immediate urban domain around the venue was part of everyone’s Paralympic experience – the focus in Rio will be on the “First Mile”:
“How will people get out of their houses and reach the closest accessible bus or metro station? If the chain is broken, people can’t come to the Games. You can’t make the entire city accessible. What to do? Bring the people to the facility and show how it can be done all over”, Sir Philip said.
Improving accessibility for all was a key message in Sir Philip’s presentation. (Image: Nina Sologubenko)
In closing a fascinating presentation, Sir Philip reiterated that design should blend efficiently with engineering in order to remove exclusion and produce attractive, accessible spaces.
Putting it quite simply, he said: “If something is accessible for me, I don’t notice it.”
Taking up Sir Philip’s challenge, Populous’ architects and designers are more motivated than ever to look for new ways to create stadia that further enable all athletes to achieve sporting excellence, as well as improving accessibility for everyone.
Richard Breslin is a Senior Principal at Populous and a Director of the Asian/Pacific office headquartered in Brisbane. Richard also sits on the worldwide strategic Board of Populous. Richard is responsible for all of the firm’s projects in New Zealand and Australia.
In 1997, Richard commenced work with the team on the design of Stadium Australia (now ANZ Stadium), the main venue for the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games. At this time, he also worked on the event overlay for the Games before moving to London where he worked on the design of the 90,000 seat Wembley Stadium, and the design of the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He was also project leader for Populous’ successful master plan for the London 2012 Olympic Park.
Following the successful delivery of the 2000 Summer Games, Richard worked on the design of the 90,000 seat Wembley Stadium, before leading the design team for two stadia constructed in Portugal (Estadio da Luz in Lisbon and Estadio Algarve in Faro) in preparation for the UEFA Euro 2004 soccer competition.
In 2006, he was Project Leader for the design of the Soccer CIty Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He was also appointed project leader for Populous’ successful master plan for the London 2012 Olympic Park. Populous designed the main stadium for the London Olympics and was part of the Overlay team for the Olympic Park.
In 2007, Richard immigrated to New Zealand, where he led the teams on Eden Park redevelopment in Auckland and Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin; – both were venues for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Richard is now working on a range of projects in Australia and New Zealand, including the sports hub which is part of the blueprint for the rebuilding of Christchurch, following the earthquakes.
Richard is currently leading the Populous team on the Darling Harbour Live project in Sydney in a HASSELL+ Populous joint venture. The $750M project includes the design of a convention centre, exhibition centre and theatre. He is also Director in charge of the redevelopment of Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne.
Richard’s 
Geraint John is a Senior Adviser to Populous, and has a deep involvement in buildings for sport and leisure use. His previous experience as the Chief Architect and Head of the Technical Unit for Sport at the GB Sports Council has made him an expert in the particular field of sports facilities.
In view of his outstanding architectural services to the Olympic movement, Geraint was awarded the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Pierre de Coubertin Medal in November 2014, presented by Sir Craig Reedie, Vice-President of the IOC. He has worked with the IOC on multiple joint IOC/UIA conferences on the architecture of sports facilities, held in the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, as well as writing the material for the Olympic Stadia component of the permanent exhibition at the Museum. Geraint sat on the Environment Committee of the London bid for the 2012 Olympics.
Geraint is the Honorary Life President of the International Union of Architects Programme (Sport & Leisure), and was formerly a Council Member of the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects).
Geraint’s