The revised plans for the Olympic Aquatic Centre have been unveiled with the new design featuring 5,000 fewer seats and a smaller overall footprint to help bring down costs.

The design team, which is led by architect Zaha Hadid, was told by culture secretary Tessa Jowell last year to make changes to the original plans after it was revealed that the project's budget was threatening to spiral out of control.

The new design has 15,000 rather than 20,000 seats, with temporary seating and canopies allowing the venue to be converted after the Games into a 2,500-capacity venue with an expandable capacity of 3,500 to host European events.

The visually striking, but expensive, sweeping roof shape has been retained, but scaled down significantly – it now measures 14,000m sq (46,000ft sq) from 35,000m sq (114,800 ft sq).

The facility will feature two 50m tanks – a 10-lane tank for competition and an eight-lane training and warming up pool – and a separate diving pit. All the Olympic and Paralympic swimming and diving events wlll be held at the centre, except the water polo competition, which will be held in temporary adjacent halls. The pool will also be connected to the Stratford Bridge.

Chief executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), David Higgins said: "The revised design, while just as visionary and exciting, is smaller than the original, reflecting the new constraints of the site, and is now fully integrated with the bridge from Stratford City to the Olympic Park. These are world-class designs and the aquatics centre will be a magnificent gateway to the Games."

The revised design will be more legacy-friendly – concerns had been expressed that certain elements of the building would make it costly to manage and operate after the Games, and it is likely that health and fitness facilities, a swimming training centre and a cafeteria will feature in the final design.

British Swimming facility officer Noel Winter said: "We are delighted with the new design and happy with the changes that have been made. The building meets all our aims and objectives for legacy use and provides the country with a facility that can stage international competitions as well as a first class training venue for elite athletes in the capital."

A detailed planning application is likely to be made in September 2007, with a view to commencement of construction work in 2008, to be completed by 2011.