Designs for the new London 2012 basketball arena, which is to be the third largest venue on the Olympic Park site, have been approved by the Olympic Delivery Authority's (ODA) planning committee.

Plans for the temporary 12,000-seat arena, which will host basketball and handball events during the Games, as well as wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby, will now be referred to the Government Office for London. The venue, which will be reduced to a 10,000-seat facility for the Paralympic events, will be located on the former proposed site of the Fencing Hall in the north of the Olympic Park after the fencing and Paralympic Judo events were switched to the ExCeL centre.

A design team including Sinclair Knight Merz, Wilkinson Eyre and KSS Design Group is behind the plans, which were submitted in November 2008 after approval was given to conceptual designs in June 2008. Paul Snoddy, basketball arena project sponsor, said: "The arena will be one of the largest temporary venues built for any Games and will provide a great experience for spectators and athletes.

"After the Games, two thirds of the materials and elements of the arena can be reused or recycled, potentially allowing other parts of the UK to benefit from London 2012." Events scheduled to be held at the temporary arena include Olympic basketball preliminaries and quarter-finals and the handball semi-finals and finals, as well as all Paralympic basketball and rugby events.

Image: ODA