THE Olympics should provide great opportunities for the county, according to the Kent man who has landed a top job preparing for the 2012 Games.

Ralph Luck, who masterminded the development of Chatham Maritime, is the first director of property for the Olympic Delivery Authority.

He will work closely with the London Development Agency to ensure that the Olympic Park is ready for construction to begin in 2008.

Olympic Park will house most of the Games’ venues. Land has to be acquired and brought up to scratch.

He will also be responsible for organising the development of the Olympic Village and media complex.

Mr Luck will also use his passion for sailing by developing Olympic sailing facilities at Weymouth and Portland Harbour.

He said: "The challenge of delivering the venues for the Olympics and the long-term legacy regeneration after the Olympics in East London is probably the greatest regeneration opportunity for the next few decades.

"Hopefully, the advent of the Olympics will also provide opportunities for Kent bearing in mind its proximity to the venues in East London and Greenwich and also bearing in mind the enhanced communications that will exist via Eurostar at Ebbsfleet and Ashford."

Ralph Luck was born in Maidstone and educated at Maidstone Grammar School before qualifying as a chartered surveyor with Kent County Council.

Although he now lives in central London, most of his family still live in Kent and much of his career has been spent working in the county.

Mr Luck was awarded an OBE for his services to urban regeneration last year and is chairman of the British Urban Regeneration Association.

Previously he was English Partnerships regional director for London and the Thames Gateway.

He has been involved in several regeneration schemes in Kent and South East London, including the controversial Dome at Greenwich, which will also be used as an Olympic venue.

Mr Luck was development director at Chatham Maritime in the 1990s.

He later joined English Partnerships which took over the project before it passed to the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) in 1998.