Star architects Zaha Hadid and Ken Shuttleworth have been shortlisted to design a swimming pool for the London 2012 Olympic games

The Olympic Aquatics Centre, five minutes from Stratford station, lies in the planned Olympic Park in the Lea Valley. It will contain a 50 m pool and smaller ones for other sports. The scheme will go ahead even if London does not win the bid.

Shuttleworth’s Make is working with FaulknerBrowns, the practice that designed the Manchester Aquatic centre for the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

The Aquatic Centre would be Hadid’s first major UK project.

Make and Zaha Hadid are joined on the shortlist by Bennetts Associates and Studio Zoppini; German sports specialist Behnisch, Behnisch and Partner; French firm Dominique Perrault Architecte; and Italian practice Massimiliano Fuksas.

Detailed designs for the centre, which will be funded by Sport England, must be submitted by November.

The winner will be selected by the end of January.

The final six architects that have been chosen have impressed us with their design talent

Roger Draper, Sport England

The winning design will be shown to the International Olympic Committee when they visit London in March next year.

The panel that will judge the competition includes architect Richard Rogers, Ricky Burdett, director of the London School of Economics Cities Programme, and an adviser to the mayor of London.

They will be joined by Deyan Sudjic, architecture critic at The Observer, and representatives from London 2012, the London Development Agency, Sport England and the Lea Valley Regional Park Authority.

Roger Draper, Sport England chief executive, said the centre would be of world-class standard. He said: “The final six architects that have been chosen have impressed all the panel through their exciting mix of design talent.”