Last week, CCSE’s Professor Gayle McPherson, Dr Briony Sharp, Professor David McGillivray and Callum McCloskey collaborated with Alex Johnston and colleagues from the Glasgow 2026 Organising Company to deliver eight legacy workshops involving a diverse range of stakeholders with an interest in how the Commonwealth Games can be a catalyst for meaningful impact in 2026 and beyond.
CCSE has been commissioned by Spirit of 2012 to establish a legacy research network, inform the Commonwealth Games 2026 Story of Change and Legacy Plan and, ultimately, assess the Games legacy over time. CCSE’s involvement reflects its expertise in the sport event landscape and, in particular, its work on how these events can be leveraged to produce valuable long term social outcomes. Commonwealth Games Federation has also provided resources for the project alongside support for a PhD student to be embedded in Games planning and legacy activities.
Glasgow 2026 Organising Company has published a useful summary of the workshops where participants were asked to reflect on what legacy they wanted to see from the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games and who should benefit from it. Additionally, Alex Johnston shared his thoughts on the importance of this exercise in a short video filmed on the day.
Discussions were framed through the 5 Commonwealth ‘Wealths’ (sporting, social, cultural, economic and diplomatic) which represent a mechanism for how the 2026 Games will catalyse legacy. We heard from participants about the importance of legacy for volunteering, for the sporting system (coaches, facilities, athletes), for the most vulnerable or marginalised, for business and trade, for the wider Commonwealth and for Glasgow/Scotland’s reputation abroad. Whilst the 2026 Games are being delivered without dedicated public funding and over a much shorter planning cycle, participants urged organisers and their partners to prioritise a few key legacy ambitions and focus on those rather than sharing limited resources too widely.
Project Co-lead Dr Briony Sharp. said:
“CCSE is proud to be working in collaboration with Glasgow 2026 to shape the strategic legacy of the Commonwealth Games. Through these research-led workshops with key stakeholders, we’re helping to define strategic ambitions, across projects and programmes, and use the Games as a catalyst for lasting community impact. At the heart of this work is the development of a Legacy Network—designed to continue well beyond the Games and reflect UWS’ commitment to meaningful, evidence-based engagement”
This project contunies apace with a Legacy Network Summit planned for October, followed by further co-design events to coordinate legacy activities and the production of success measures against which the legacy plan will be assessed.
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