THERE may well be no white elephants in London’s 2012 Olympic bid, but an aquatics complex the size of Wembley Stadium that resembles a blue whale in its exterior design, will dominate the landscape in East London whether the capital wins the right to stage the Games or not.

Zaha Hadid, an awardwinning female architect born in Baghdad, was yesterday awarded the contract by Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, to design the £70 million aquatics centre. All four Olympic aquatic disciplines are provided for under a wave-structured roof that will resemble the flow of water.

The site in the Lower Lea Valley, where the pools will be built, is already being cleared. Archaeologists arrive there next week and building work is expected to begin by the end of the year, with a completion date set for late 2008 or early 2009.

Hadid’s team will work with S & P, the pool architect, and Ove Arup and Partners, an engineering company.

The complex will help to rejuvenate the Thames Gateway and will be used for elite sport and by the local community. There are two permanent 50-metre pools and a separate diving hall. The main competition pool would seat 20,000 spectators during the Olympics, but Hadid has tailored the design to allow seating to be reduced to 3,000 without affecting the shape of the building.

Similarly, the diving hall would seat 5,000 during the Games but will have 1,000 seats afterwards or in the event of London losing the right to stage the Olympics when the IOC votes this July. Water polo would be staged in a temporary pool to be be dismantled after the Games, when a health and leisure facility would be incorporated into the building and more space would be given over to other use, such as sports science and community activities.