Mayor of London Boris Johnson, has opened a major design competition for a new £400m (US$650m, €503m) educational and cultural quarter at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, east London.

Billed as the ‘Olympicopolis’, the project will be situated on the former 2012 Olympics site showcasing London’s ‘exceptional art, dance, history, craft, science, technology and cutting edge design’.

Although visitors to the park are already able to enjoy its parklands, waterways, remaining sporting venues and the ArcelorMittal Orbit viewing attraction, the new £400m (US$650m, €503m) venue is an all encompassing next step of London’s Olympic Legacy.

Several high profile partners are involved in the scheme so far including; The Victoria and Albert Museum, Sadler’s Wells dance theatre and University of the Arts London. University College London will also be building a new campus adjacent to the Stratford Waterfront site.

Boris Johnson commented: "Olympicopolis is an extraordinarily exciting new development for Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, which will bring new jobs and growth to the area. It is great to see such a huge appetite from talented designers around the world to get involved as our plans progress for the site."

More than 960 international design and architecture firms have already registered their interest in the competition, which is being facilitated by Malcolm Reading Consultants with a star-studded judging panel.

The competition will be split over two stages, the first will be general ‘Expressions of Interest’ and five finalists will be chosen to proceed to the next stage where they will submit concept designs. The winning team will finally be announced in March 2015.