Time is running out for the Brighton i360 to be ready for the London Olympics.

Developers are ready to auction off the attraction’s name in a bid to close its funding gap.

But with a 21-month construction time the £40 million project is now out of time for its deadline of the Games in July 2012.

Marks Barfield, the firm behind the 175m observation tower, is approaching “big name” international companies to buy the naming rights for the attraction.

Tony Mernagh, of the Brighton and Hove Economic Partnership, said: "I would expect a business whose core market is young and trendy would be attracted to this, someone like a fashion label or maybe an alcohol brand.

"It sounds like they are looking to tie in a company for life, so we could be talking about the Smirnoff Tower in a few years' time."

or full report see today's Argus.