Arup feasibility study identifies Stratford and Lea Valley as other potential venues for London games.
Wembley and the Millennium Dome have been chosen as key sites for a potential 2012 London Olympic bid in a business case being drawn up by consultant Arup.

The firm was appointed in January by a government-led consortium to do a cost analysis of the feasibility of a London bid.

It has assessed potential locations and will estimate the cost of the bid within the next four weeks. The £400,000 report will be sent to the government, the Greater London Authority and the British Olympic Association later this spring.

Members of Arup's project team refused to comment, but the proposed sites for the games are understood to include:

  • The Millennium Dome in Greenwich, south-east London, for indoor sports, including gymnastics
  • The proposed national stadium at Wembley (see below) for the football finals, with games in earlier rounds played across the country
  • Stratford, east London, for the main stadium and Olympic village
  • The Lea Valley for a velodrome to host the cycling competitions.

Arup is understood to believe that the proposed redevelopment of the dome into a 20,000-seat arena by the Meridian Delta consortium would be appropriate for gymnastics, one of the games' flagship events. Meridian Delta is holding talks with the government.

A spokesperson for Meridian added: "A 20,000-seat arena fills a key gap in London's venue market and could be suitable for some element of the Olympics." But the dome is not the right shape to hold cycling events, so a velodrome would be constructed in the Lea Valley – as suggested in a report by the British Olympic Association last year.

Arup has decided that Stratford should be the focus of the games, largely because of its transport links, which will be enhanced by the proposed CrossRail project.

East London would also be home to an Olympic swimming pool, the report is expected to conclude. Satellite pools for other water sports are being considered for Crystal Palace, south-east London, and Hillingdon, west London.