Trivandi expert hails Commonwealth Games for setting a blueprint for future events

During the Commonwealth Games, Trivandi served as a partner to the games, ensuring a huge team of staff and volunteers supplied a one-of-a-kind atmosphere. According to the firm’s co-founder James Bulley, the event has provided a more efficient model for future sporting gatherings to follow.

Taking place every four years, the Commonwealth Games is an international multi-sport event that brings together athletes from across the Commonwealth of Nations. The political association comprising the majority of former territories of the British Empire has changed extensively since the first games in 1930, but the event still brings together thousands of competitors from around the globe.

Taking place from 23 July to 2 August, Glasgow 2026 welcomed 3,000 athletes from 74 nations and territories to the city. Glasgow 2026 – the organising company established to deliver the games – was supported in its huge task by Trivandi, combining world-class sport with a future-focused vision.

With the closing of the games, James Bulley, co-founder of Trivandi and one of the world’s foremost events experts, has hailed the game-changing legacy that will be left behind by the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, providing a blueprint for the delivery of future instalments of the competition as well as other major events. 

Bulley commented, “It’s the first time an event of this scale has been held with so little time to prepare and with a budget considerably lower than previous Games. But if you watched it on TV, walked through the venues and saw what was delivered, it did not feel like anything other than what you would expect at a major event. Everything has been to the same quality and level of higher budgets and longer lead-in times – and maintaining sports presentation has been key to that.”

A leading British sports events executive best known for his senior role in delivering the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Bulley served as director of venues and Infrastructure from bid stage to delivery. And according to him, the 2026 Commonwealth Games’ embedded event partner model “created a genuine one-team environment,” as Trivandi, and all stakeholders worked side-by-side throughout.

To support the delivery of the Games, last August Trivandi began the process of hiring 250 people, with a commitment to recruiting more than half of the team from Glasgow and its surrounding areas. In addition, it helped provide formal, structured training to the organising company’s 700 staff and the Games’ 3,000 volunteers through its Trivandi Academy.

Bulley added, “The human legacy of the Games is one of the most important aspects of delivery. We firmly believe major events should be delivered by local people – even if they have no experience of working in the sector. That has meant a big commitment to training and development, but it has worked really well, with the team gelling quickly. Perhaps most importantly, a lot of our team are from Glasgow and Scotland more widely, with many either being students or not in employment prior to joining us. The Trivandi Academy has trained and upskilled them, giving them the opportunity to work on events in Scotland, the UK, or further afield after this summer. That leaves behind a real human legacy for the workforce and Glasgow’s ability to host more events in the future.”

Looking ahead, the new delivery model put in place for Glasgow 2026 provides a plan for other events to follow – significantly reducing the cost of hosting major events and the time it takes for cities to prepare. The success of Glasgow 2026 is likely to inform discussions around how future major events are delivered, opening up the opportunity for more cities and nations to act as host.

 “Glasgow has shown what can be achieved through a collaborative approach that makes the most of existing infrastructure, local expertise, and a focused delivery model, and that should translate into the opportunity for the city to host more events,” Bulley concluded. “What has been proven is the Commonwealth Games and other major events can be delivered on a smaller cost base and in a reduced timeframe. But everywhere has a different ‘why’ for hosting the events. That can be boosting tourism, generating new trade links, creating jobs, or building new homes – hosting an event can enable all of these things.”