For 11 days the eyes of 71 nations and territories – an estimated 1.5 billion people – have been glued to the wonderful images of great sporting achievement and people and setting providing the fun, friendly city that’s played host to The Games. As HRH Prince Imran of Malaysia (President of the Commonwealth Games Federation) said of Glasgow during the closing ceremony, “You were pure, dead brilliant!”

With the sport over, records broken and the medals handed out here’s a quick list of 5 great things The Games have given Glasgow in the run-up to, during and, it’s hoped, going forward:

  1. Global exposure for the city, its people, culture, drive and ambition
    People make Glasgow. This city on the Clyde has shown itself to be welcoming and warm, good humoured and supportive to all. Ready to pick up the baton and re-invent itself throughout its history, Glasgow now has a great opportunity to position itself on the world stage as being at the forefront of science and innovation.
  2. Investment in the city’s infrastructure
    There’s been a clever and innovative re-imagining, re-engineering and development of Glasgow’s existing venues and public spaces to provide capacity for hosting The Games. Take, for example, the technology and vision to use the ‘Glasgow solution’ to transform the city’s national football stadium, Hampden Park into a world-class athletics arena. See Hampden being transformed in just 90 seconds:

    Discover more about the engineering challenges overcome to present the ‘best games ever’ in a detailed map developed by The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and Ordnance Survey.

  3. Investment in skills and training
    15,000 volunteered as Clyde-siders providing great energy, guidance and a big friendly smile as visitors moved around the city and its venues. More than 1,300 members of staff were employed by Glasgow 2014 at full capacity, and around 30,000 contractors delivered goods and services during Games Time. The Game On Scotland website is the education programme designed to enable schools and educators to use the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games as an inspiring, motivating, relevant and fun context for learning across the curriculum and for all ages.
  4. Tourism, trade and economic development have been given a massive boost. With around 1 million spectators descending on the city during The Games there’s been a great buzz about the place with businesses reaping the rewards. Preparing and delivering The Games has brought new ways of working and new partnerships across a range of disciplines and economic sectors.
  5. All of which have been underpinned with a commitment to ensuring legacy, sustainability, accessibility, diversity and inclusion. Glasgow 2014 was presented with its certificate for achieving ISO 20121, the international standard for sustainable event management recognising efforts to reduce the environmental impact before and after the Games, especially in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. A unique partnership was formed with the world’s leading organisation for children, UNICEF to Put Children First. Some £5 million has so far been raised through the Games to support their work in Commonwealth countries around the world and in Scotland, UNICEF UK has child rights education campaigns for children in schools, health settings and local government.

So, is Glasgow the biggest winner from the Games? And, will this dear green place ever be the same again?

Links