Populous to oversee design of 38 Olympic venues for Paris 2024 bid

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International sports and entertainment design practice, Populous has been selected to support the Paris bid for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The Paris 2024 Bid Committee selected Populous and engineering firm Egis to provide technical assistance in the development of plans for 38 Olympic and Paralympic venues for the 2024 bid. The scope of this partnership, in association with ISC, a sport and culture consulting agency, will include ensuring existing venues are ready for the scale and needs of Olympic and Paralympic events, and designing both new and temporary venues and facilities, allowing Paris 2024 to deliver successful and truly memorable Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Populous was the only firm among the contenders to have designed three main Olympic stadiums in addition to having considerable major events experience comprising of involvement in 13 Olympic and 7 Paralympic Games, including Sydney 2000, London 2012 and Rio 2016.

Populous Senior Principal Ben Vickery said the bid was a great opportunity for Paris to showcase a beautiful international city and its proud sporting history. He added that Populous’ selection to provide technical support for the 2024 bid would be an exciting step on their Olympic Games journey, showcasing the firm’s expertise in designing experiences that can be enjoyed by millions of people from around the world.

Populous’ event and overlay designs support cities from all around the world to host successful major international events. Their long-term design relationships include the NFL Super Bowl, the FIFA World Cup, Cricket and Rugby World Cups, as well as the inaugural 2015 European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan. Populous’ work takes in the full design and delivery spectrum, from assisting bid teams with submissions, and helping masterplan major venues and facilities, to the design of the main stadium and hundreds of temporary venues needed to support modern Games.

Populous Principal Francois Clement said that their knowledge and experience, gained from their Olympic and Paralympic Games work as well as their work in France on the new stadium for Olympic Lyonnais will, together with Egis, help Paris create an incredible event in 2024.

Egis Chairman and CEO Nicolas Jachiet commented that the consulting teams of the two firms will enthusiastically bring all their expertise and know-how in project management so that Paris could host the Olympics in 2024. Underlining Egis’ extensive experience in designing major sports complexes and sports events for many years, he added that the company was now recognised as a major player in the engineering of stadiums thanks to the multiplicity of its skills and cross specialisation process.