The London 2012 Olympic bid has been given a clean bill of health in an independent study by engineer Arup.

In the week that 16 members of the International Olympic Committee evaluation panel visited London to inspect the bid, Arup director Mark Bostock said it was 鈥渧ery strong technically鈥�.

Bostock said that success for London at the bidding stage would be backed up by a powerful Olympic Delivery Authority set up specifically to deliver the games.

He said: 鈥淭he body would have full planning responsibility for the Olympics and would need to be set up by statute. It would be an authority with teeth.鈥�

Should the bid prove successful, construction on the 拢465m Olympic stadium would start in July 2008, with a completion date of February 2011.

Tim Urquhart, head of project management at Lend Lease and a key player during the Sydney 2000 Olympics, said it was vital to be able to finish construction at least a year before the games.

He said: 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to have time to try out the venues by doing test events.鈥�

Yesterday environmentalist Sir Jonathon Porritt outlined to the IOC panel how a successful London bid would lead to a 鈥済reen games鈥�, by recycling waste used in construction and setting high environmental standards for the Olympic village.

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