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RIBA join protest against Olympic marketing rules

RIBA joins protest against Olympic marketing rules

Dezeen Wire: the Royal Institute of British Architects has joined the campaign to promote the architects and engineers who designed buildings for the London 2012 Olympic games but have been unable to promote their work because of a marketing agreement with the event organisers.

RIBA president Angela Brady, President of the Institute of Structural Engineers John Nolan and New London Architecture chair Peter Murray have today hung a banner down the facade of the RIBA headquarters in London listing all of those involved under the slogan "The Architects and Engineers who designed and built London 2012".

The protest follows our story about how Murray wore a T-shirt listing the names to a Creative Industries Summit at Lancaster House earlier this week and attendees at today's event can be seen wearing the same shirt.

Download a pdf of the design here so you can print your own.

See all our stories about the London 2012 Olympics »

Photography is by Jack Shaw.

Here's a press release from the RIBA:


Team ‘Design GB’ stage ‘name drop’ event to promote the firms who built the Olympics

Today the RIBA staged a protest with the architects and engineers who built the Olympic buildings. Strict contractual rules have meant that they are not able to do any pro-active work to promote their role in London 2012. In an effort to encourage LOCOG to do more to promote, and to allow the architects and engineers to promote, their great work on the inspiring Olympic buildings, they did a literal “name drop” by unfurling a banner from RIBA’s central London HQ listing the names of all the design and engineering companies involved in the Olympics.

The banner was dropped by RIBA President, Angela Brady, President of the Institute of Structural Engineers, John Nolan and Peter Murray, Director of New London Architecture. Olympic architects and engineers surrounded the banner wearing T-shirts listing all the firms involved in designing the Games.

RIBA President Angela Brady, said today:

“Architects and engineers have delivered incredible buildings which are hosting the London 2012 Games right now. We are calling on LOCOG to be proud of our architectural and engineering achievements for the London 2012 Olympics and do everything they can to promote the buildings and all the designers involved. Time is of the essence and we want them to start doing it now, and very importantly, to let architects get out there and talk about their work now. Let’s shout about the great design and engineering talent that the UK has to offer and not miss this valuable opportunity to do so.”

President of the Institute of Structural Engineers said today:

“The London Olympics is an exemplar for building design throughout the world. It seems nonsensical in a time when so much of our industry is struggling that the opportunity to market ‘construction/design GB’ is being thrown away by short-sighted government policy.”

Peter Murray, Director of New London Architecture, said today:

“When the government called for businesses involved in the Olympics to promote themselves overseas to support the British economy it seems crazy that architects, consultants and other suppliers to the Olympics are gagged in this draconian way”.