John Armitt has been appointed chair of the Olympic Delivery Authority.

Armitt will take up the position as ODA Chair on 1 September 2007. He will replace Sir Roy McNulty who has been acting chair since October. He will now act as deputy chair of the committee.

The ODA is the body charged with building the key venues, facilities and infrastructure for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in London.

Armitt has been chief executive of Network Rail since October 2002. He was previously chief executive of Costain Group and Union Railways.

Sir Stuart lipton, founder of Stanhope, is also understood to have been on the shortlist for the post.

Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell said: ‘John Armitt will be an outstanding leader of a world class team at the Olympic Delivery Authority. He has a formidable amount of experience in engineering and construction, and is well placed to lead an organisation charged with delivering one of the biggest and most complex building and regeneration projects this country has ever seen.’