Deborah Meaden from Dragons' Den and Grand Designs' Kevin McCloud were among a group of London 2012 Sustainability Ambassadors who paid a visit to the Olympic Park yesterday, as the Organising Committee (LOCOG) was recognised for its ground-breaking approach to sustainability.

LOCOG has become the first Games Organising Committee to be certified to the British Standard 8901: Specification for a Sustainability Management Systems for Events.

This follows a series of assessments carried out this summer by independent certification body SGS United Kingdom, who audited all activities delivered by LOCOG including the test event in Greenwich Park.

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LOCOG Chief Executive Paul Deighton said: "Certification to BS 8901 is an Olympic and Paralympic first and is a fantastic achievement that shows how far sustainability is embedded into the heart of our organisation.

"We still have more work to do but we are well on track to achieve some fantastic results and uncover more opportunities that have not been realised before in an Olympic or Paralympic context."

BS 8901 was inspired by the London 2012 bid and has been developed specifically for the events industry with a purpose of helping event organisers, venues and suppliers to operate in a more sustainable manner.

Celebrating the announcement, presenter McCloud and businesswoman Meaden were joined on the Olympic Park by campaigner and author, Eugenie Harvey; author and environmentalist, Saci Lloyd; environmentalist and writer, Jonathon Porritt; and co-founder of the Eden Project, Tim Smitt.

The role of the Ambassadors is to help to bring to people’s attention the importance of sustainability at the Games.

Deborah Meaden said: "It is amazing to see how sustainability has been embedded at such scale into the building of the venues and the delivery of the Games. I am genuinely excited about what we have achieved and can’t wait to share it with the world in 2012."

(GK)