Greenwich MM - MEX - The Dome - The O2

The Millennium Experience

A Millennium Haiku

STOP THE WEB.... LATEST!!
Last update: 10/10/2006

The MEX is no more.. long live the Dome!

This page will continue to provide updates on the latest Dome happenings.
All items are posted in chronological order, with the most recent first.

Local Open Days at the O2

Do you want to find out what is happening under the Dome?

Nearly 1,000 people are working on construction for the O2 for when it opens in July next year. The O2 Arena will be a state-of-the-art, 20,000 capacity music and sports arena attracting top artists and shows from around the world. The O2 includes an entertainment district of attractions as well from live music clubs to premier screen cinemas, exhibitions, bars, and restaurants all under one roof.

COME AND SEE THE CONSTRUCTION FOR YOURSELF!

Every Sunday from October 15th 2006 to November 5th 2006 between 10am and noon. First come first served!

Sunday 15 October 2006
Sunday 22 October 2006
Sunday 29 October 2006
Sunday 5 November 2006

The O2 comes alive in July 2007!

No photography permitted!

Greenwich Peninsula Master Plan Presentation

The vision for Greenwich Peninsula has been announced. Samantha Payne of the NewsShopper reported...

The £5bn development taking place in Greenwich over the next 15 years is the largest single regeneration scheme in London.

Eighty hectares of land surrounding The O2 (formerly the Dome) will be transformed into a new urban community providing 10,000 homes and 24,000 jobs.

It is a joint venture between Lend Lease, Quintain Estates and Development PLC, Meridian Delta Limited (MDL), English Partnerships and Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), which will complement the already growing community at Greenwich Millennium Village.

MDL director Bert Martin and AEG president David Campbell presented the Greenwich Peninsula master plan on September 27, 2006 at the Greenwich Peninsula Business Centre, Green Place, Greenwich.

The talk was followed by a tour of Peninsula Square and The O2, which will feature a 23,000 capacity arena for entertainment and sports.

Of the 10,000 new homes, 3,800 will be affordable, which will mean homes for key workers such as nurses and teachers, as well as people with low incomes. The plans include 150 new shops and restaurants and the total amount of parkland and open space will be the same size as Green Park in London. A new secondary and primary school will also be built as well as health and childcare facilities, a museum and a multi-faith centre.

Mr Martin said: "Nothing of this scale has ever been done before. "It will be a residential location within a setting. We intend to continue our commitment to delivering a new community within clear sustainable principles."

Developers hope to create London's first Low Emissions Zone, maximising the use of public transport by promoting Thames Clippers Catamaran services, new bus routes and train services.

The first phase of the construction is Peninsula Square, which is well under way, with up to 850sq ft of granite being laid per week. It will be complemented by a covered walkway from North Greenwich Tube station, a 45m stainless steel mast and two circular water features. There will also be a video wall showing the latest gigs, events and concerts being held at The O2, which will also have a performance area. The square will be the same size as Leicester Square and be the gateway to The O2, which will be one of Europe's leading entertainment venues.

The site will be completed next summer, along with the opening of the O2.

It's impossible to comprehend the enormity of the arena until you visit - it has been said to be as big as two Trafalgar Squares and can fit 72 tennis courts. If you turned the massive tent upside down, it would contain 3.8bn pints of lager. Under The O2 roof, there will be a mixture of leisure attractions including a music club, an 11-screen cinema, restaurants and a theatre. The massive arena will host 150 events in its first year and it is hoped the arena could be adapted from a basketball court to an ice hockey rink in less than two hours.

Mr Campbell said: "We want to make it a high class venue. "We hope to put on three events every day and create the ultimate positive customer experience, and I can guarantee you will never get a warm pint of beer from any point in the arena."

A further meeting of the Greenwich Peninsula Partnership Forum was held on January 10th 2006. The O2 Arena is now promised a Summer 2007 opening, and the associated Exhibition Centre will host a visit from the Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs roadshow on the last leg of its world tour before returning, permanently, to Egypt.

Read a full report..

An intriguing e-Mail has arrived from, of all places, Atlanta, Georgia..

Norman Hulme writes;

"I've been an avid collector of items from the Millennium Dome since my initial visit back in April 2000. As my collection has constantly grown, I've needed some way to keep track of what I was acquiring. Well, one thing has led to another, and I've recently created a web site called The Millennium Dome: A Collection."

10-1 no-one over here bothered to do something like this!

A further meeting of the Greenwich Peninsula Partnership Forum was held on October 6th 2005. Members were updated on the latest situation regarding the O2 Waterfront, as the combo of the Arena and its associated attractions has become known, the new Village Square for the Greenwich Millennium Village, the latest on the A New Heart for East Greenwich development including the future of the old Greenwich District Hospital and details of the completion and the opening of the David Beckham Football Academy off East Parkside.

Read a full report...

Well... we won....!!! The 2012 London Olympic Bid that is!!

So the new Dome Arena is set to host part of that spectacular event which is obviously some years away yet. It'll be my retirement year, so all the news between now and then relating to Dome you will find here. Congratulations to all the bid team for a great job!

Local residents of East Greenwich have recently been circulated with a 'newsletter' entitled Regeneration News - East Greenwich, Issue 1, Summer 2004, jointly published by English Partnerships and Greenwich Council on the plans for demolishing the old Greenwich Disrict Hospital and the future of the site. There has also been a revised set of plans for the Lovell's Wharf site adjacent to Pelton Road, East Greenwich, where the original multi-storey towers have been reduced inheight to a much more modest 5-7 stories with very little lost by way of accomodation, yet an increase in the width of he Thames Path and other open space. Unfortunately there is neither a web version of this Newsletter, nor curently any reference to it on either English Partnership's or Greenwich Council's site.

A meeting of the Greenwich Peninsula Partnership Forum was held on February 21st 2005. Members were updated on the latest situation regarding the A New Heart for East Greenwich plans, planning consent for the new Millennium Square, Section 106 plans for Blackwall Lane, signage to the north of the Blackwall Tunnel, improvements to the A102/Woolwich Road flyover junction, details of the 5-year Beckham Football Academy off East Parkside and the start of work on the Dome Arena.

A 12-member IOC team came to London on February 15th for 4 days to check out the London 2012 Olympic Bid plans. They stayed at the exclusive Four Seasons Hotel in Canary Wharf. As part of this visit the Dome and various other key locations such as Admiralty Arch were specially lit up on the night of Wednesday, February 16th.

The Dome hosted the annual Crisis Open Christmas event from December 23rd - 30th 2004, probably the last event to be held before the contractors move in to start work on the new stadium. Over 1,000 homeless people visited the Dome during this period supported by hundreds of Crisis volunteers.

A meeting of the Greenwich Peninsula Partnership Forum was held on October 19th 2004. Members heard presentations on the latest proposals for the Lovell's Wharf/Babcock Wharf site, Millennium Square, the Dome Arena as well as receiving a transport infrastructure update. The Agenda item to outline the public discussion document on the proposal A New Heart for East Greenwich, was postponed to a later date, probably in early 2005. Cllr. Chris Roberts, Leader of Greenwich Council brought the meeting to a close with an update on the latest on the Thames Gateway Project.

Having now been shortlisted, London's Olympic bid, London 2012, which includes the use of the Dome for gymnastics, trampolining, basketball and handball finals and nearby Greenwich Park for equestrian, modern pentathlon riding and running events begin to take on a new significance.

Meridian Delta's development plans for the Dome received the final green light from Greenwich Council in February 2004 with the signing of the Section 106 agreement to provide extensive benefits to the local community as well as improvements to the transport infrastucture. 'Unconditional' status was awarded by the Secretary of State in June 2004. Details...

Full report

Lord Falconer made a formal statement on 29/5/02 that the Dome is to be 'given away' to the preferred developer, Meridian Delta (a consortium comprising AEG, Lend Lease and Quintain Estates), in return for a share of profits made from the planned sports and entertainment arena and from associated buildings on an overall 170 acre site. A guaranteed £135 million is slated to be spent on the surrounding area including up to 7000 new homes, many in the affordable category for 'key workers'. Some of this land is already owned by Quintain Estates, one of the partners of the Meridian Delta consortium. It was also announced that Lord Falconer, the former Dome Minister, would be joining the Home Office in a Cabinet re-shuffle.

Earlier claims that a further £200 million 'sweetener' towards the cost of new Thames crossing between the Greenwich Peninsula and Silvertown were part of the deal have been squashed. Any decision on this was not for the Government to make, but the Mayor of London, and there are two other rival bids in the pipeline for these monies, one at Woolwich and one at Gallions Reach, Thamesmead. Whatever the outcome, one thing is (hopefully!) certain.. it will not be a bridge, despite the Press claims. The Mayor has previously stated his opposition to that idea.

As a local resident, the author would also like to make one thing clear, despite the BBC's report of 28/11/01. The Dome is not a 'gloomy and shabby' place. The Dome is in pristine condition. It is spick-and-span, inside and out. Taxpayers do not have to think of their money as having nothing to show for it. Although it is sad that there is no current use for the place apart from the one-off events listed below, it is a wonderful structure just waiting for a purpose. That could be next week or next month... and prior to any major works that might be necessary for the Anshultz stadium.

An interesting Nike Football event was held at the Dome from June 1-15th 2002. Unique 3 + 3 format for 11-15 year old teams. Video games and evening DJs.

In addition, planning applications were agreed for two opera concerts in late June, but these seem to sink without trace.

A further application for a maximum of 25 days of possible events ranging from concerts to sporting events, exhibitions and product launches in the period from July 2nd 2002 to December 31st 2002 has also been passed by the Council's Planning Board.

Full report..

The brilliantly sunny day that was 1/1/2002 saw the Dome still standing after an invasion of an estimated 50,000 clubbers on New Year's Eve for the Ministry of Sound event. The music went on until 7.00 am on New Year's Day. At 2.00 am my house, some two miles away, was quite literally throbbing. No doubt some will complain, but it was great to see the place in use again, and here's hoping something else happens before the end of 2004!

The BBC report (linked above) states that the Dome is to be developed as a 20,000 seat sports and entertainment complex. Meridian Delta Ltd has been appointed "exclusive partners" with English Partnerships and will provide £4bn of investment, at least 5,000 new homes and around 20,000 new jobs on the 150 acre site around the Dome, including 14 acres of land already owned by Quintain Estates, one of the partners in Meridian Delta Ltd..

After an introduction from the Chair, Sir Bob Scott, speakers from Greenwich Council (Leader, Chris Roberts), English Partnerships/the Government (Ralph Luck) and Transport for London gave brief presentations on the current situation regarding the future of the Dome, hopes and aspirations for future employment on the whole of the Peninsula including property not currently owned by E.P., and the potential for improvements to the transport infrastructure. This includes the proposed Waterfront Transit from North Greenwich to Thamesmead, a possible third river crossing, either a road tunnel from the Peninsula to Silvertown (the idea of a bridge here has apparently been virtually ruled out), a DLR extension from City Airport via a tunnel to Woolwich, or a multi-purpose crossing at Thamesmead. This was followed by a lengthy Q&A session.

Full report..

The building is currently being prepared as a temporary venue for concerts and raves, weddings and bar mitzvahs. Amid the protracted talks to find a credible buyer for the site, eight teams of contractors are finishing the decommissioning project - flattening the floor so it can be used for these one-off events.

Scheduled to have occured within six months of the Dome's closure, the section of the Thames Path around the Dome site was finally opened to the public on Monday, September 17th 2001. It is now possible to follow the path, which will also become part of the London Cycle Network, all round the tip of the Greenwich Peninsula, past the Environment Agency's information panels and linking in with the previously opened section at the southern end of the old coach park. The Greenwich Pavilion remains inside the Dome periphery fence, but may open to passing trade in the future.

It was earlier noted that what was the largest Macdonalds restaurant in Europe was no more, having been removed to leave just tidy foundations. However, the apparent demise of the 'high-end' souvenir shop, the Dome's own pub, The Red Boot, and the outdoor performance arena has proved premature after viewing the site from the new Path.

Another recent report in the Docklands News claims Arsenal Football Club might 'move to the Dome site' to get close to their Woolwich roots if the current planning application with Islington Council founders. Having led with this, the accompanying article says absolutely nothing about any actual plans!

Legacy PLC lost (15/2/01) the opportunity to move ahead unhindered by rival bids and finally pulled out of the 'race' altogether. Although given the virtual 'OK' by the Government to go ahead with their £125 million scheme, Legacy failed to convince either them or other sceptics that they could properly fund the scheme or find suitable tenants. The plans, for a Knowledge City, envisaged 14,000 jobs on the site by 2003, although critics claimed that that number was 'wildly optimistic'. What was worse, there was little definite commitment from any future tenants in the scheme, despite Sun Microsystems, Imperial College and the Open University having been touted as being 'interested' participants in the venture. Legacy have spent a considerable amount of money on local publicity for the scheme, including a number of presentations of a computer-generated 3D 'fly-through' of the 'City' by representatives of the architects involved.

In the run-up to the Legacy confirmation a plan to develop the Dome as a 55,000 seat concert venue to take over from the 'absent' Wembley Stadium was proposed by The Experience Group, and apparently rejected 'out of hand' by the Government. The consortium, supported by Harvey Goldsmith, dance club Ministry of Sound, two property development companies, a US-based finance company and a Malaysian leisure firm, was believed to have offered £135 million to maintain the venue in its current 'leisure' role. They had described Legacy's plans for the Dome as 'mind-numbingly boring'.

In late October 2000, amid rumours of Legacy being unable to come up with appropriate backing, Paul Reichmann and the Canary Wharf Group, recently listed as Britain's largest property company worth £4 billion, were said to be lurking in the background to pick up the pieces. They were manly interested in the land immediately adjacent to the Dome and the Station, already earmarked as a 'business district' on the redeveloped Greenwich Peninsula site, but may well have had to take on the Dome as well in order to achieve a purchase. Whether that would have been considered if the option to demolish the Dome was unavailable to them we shall now never know!

In early October 2000, a report to Ministers by merchant bankers, Lazards, had earlier apparently recommended that the Dome be "torn down to maximise revenue from the site". This process would have cost between £15 and £30 million! Greenwich Council had previously announced that it will apply for a local 'listed' status for the structure, and Ministers were also believed to be against the idea of demolition.

Greenwich 'MM' is of the view that the vogue for linking the 'failure' of the Dome to attract the expected visitor numbers in the Millennium Year with a notion that the structure itself should be demolished, is a totally erroneous one. It is bizarre in the extreme that a building that only nine months ago had 10 proposals for its future use should now, potentially, be pulled down. Plans are still in hand by the Greenwich Society, the Westcombe Society and other local amenity groups to canvass local opinion and to possibly mount a 'Save the Dome' campaign, should the current Legacy bid even now fall through and demolition become a renewed threat.

The use of 1000 car parking spaces at the Dome, originally made available for the summer period, was extended until the end of the year. They were only available for vistors who pre-booked it. Parts of the Staff car park adjacent to North Greenwich Station, immediately adjacent to the Dome, were taken over for this purpose, with staff parking moved some distance away to a surfaced, but unused, area previously designated for 'support' purposes.

After winning the race to take over the Millennium Dome from January 2001, Nomura International's Dome Europe scheme has now been abandoned. How it was ever possible for Nomura to base its proposals on the guesswork of the NMEC regarding visitor numbers for a one year exhibition in a 'special' year is beyond this author!

Cllr. Chris Roberts, Leader of Greenwich Council, and Sir Bob Scott, now Chief Executive of the Greenwich Millennium Trust had, originally, both welcomed the decision as "offering the best opportunity for the local jobs and increased tourism". However, in contrast, the Greenwich Society and Cllr. Bob Harris of the Council favoured the Legacy scheme.

Another late bid by the BBC and Tussauds to run the Dome was promptly laid to rest by the Government. Ministers met on 9/7/2000 to decide on the winning bid from the two shortlisted candidates, Legacy plc and Nomura International's Dome Europe plan. The latter bid was higher, and was favoured, offering job security to the Dome's current workforce, but Legacy's plans were favoured by Cllr. Bob Harris, Deputy Leader of Greenwich Council, and by the Greenwich Society, both of whom consider the Legacy scheme would offer better job opportunities.

Some details about the two final shorlisted candidates as well as the previous round's six proposals for the future use of the Dome appeared in the Spring 2000 issue of the Greenwich Peninsula News published by English Partnerships.

The Dome management announced in late May that late night openings (to 11.00pm) on Fridays and Saturdays would cease and that they would instead operate a 11 hour day (9am - 8pm) every day of the week from June 1st 2000. In addition, a 3 hour evening session will be available at £10. There would be a 20% discount for all 'second' visits as well as a limited offer of a free copy of Microsoft's 'Encarta' CD-ROM for all purchasers of Family Tickets "while stocks last". This offer was further extended on 11/7/2000.

Jennie Page departed, and Mr 'Disney' (or is he?!), Monsieur Yves Gerbeau, arrived in her place. With up to 20,000 visitors a day hoped for before April, any major change to the fourteen 'zones' was going to be out of the question, let alone the fact there was no money to pay for it. Quite what the reshuffle was going to achieve was anyone's guess, but certainly a little more flexibility in ticketing arrangements and better publicity would not have gone amiss.

The nearby Riverside Walkways and Cycle Paths are now fully open to the public. The Pilot Inn and Ceylon Cottages have a new car park and are now the only original buildings remaining on the Peninsula to the east of Bugsby's Way and Millennium Way, the old electricity sub-station/Thames Barrier radar building, Riverside Industrial Estate and Greenwich Yacht Club premises all having been flattened. The new Yacht Club premises on the Peartree Wharf site are now fully occupied.

An elaborate 'sculpture', Quantum Cloud, 29 metres high and 10 metres across, made out of square steel tubes has been erected on one of the original 'Doric' support columns of the Gas Works jetty.This has been designed by Richard Gormley, the much acclaimed creator of 'The Angel of the North' overlooking Scunthorpe and the A1. Five additional sculptures can be found at various locations outside the Dome along the riverside and in it!

Millennium Transit vehicles are now in use, but not on the 'Guideway'! In quite what way they are 'guided' is obscure to say the least. Additionally, the first one observed managed to break down after only half a mile of so of its journey back from the Dome to Charlton Station on the afternoon of 29/12/99.

Not all the zones were complete for these previews, with reports indicating that work would have to continue over the entire Christmas holiday period on at least two of the 14 zones. Impressive sequential lighting effects on the roof of the Dome are now complete and provide an impressive spectacle from the high ground of Blackheath and from many other vantage points.

The timetable of events at that Millennium Eve event at the Dome.

There were varying reports regarding ticket sales before it even opened. NMEC reported that sales are on target and that over 1 million had been sold by early November. However, local newspapers reported no interest from Greenwich or Lewisham residents. This is hardly surprising since Greenwich residents will receive 'free' passes on presentation of a Greenwich Card. These can be obtained from Greenwich Council, although they aren't totally free. Each card costs £2.00.

The 300 acre site is now totally unrecognisable from the derelict site which existed only two years ago. The development of the Millennium Experience and the remainder of the Greenwich Peninsula is well on its way to totally transforming the area for the next Millennium. The conference aimed to describe the work that has, and is, being carried out and to look at the effect this is having on the local and wider area. NMEC, English Partnerships and Greenwich Council have jointly commissioned an economic impact study that will examine the benefits of the developments on the site. Some of the early findings of this study were presented at this Conference. Details...

For historical purposes.. a reminder of the ticket prices for the MEX.

A 'special zone' is being established around the Dome in which it will be illegal to advertise without special permission, as well as to even enter by car without a permit. This will make it impossible for anyone to drop off or pick up visitors to the Exhibition or to the North Greenwich Jubilee Line station until after 9.30pm.

On the afternoon of 29/5/99 the Dome was struck by lightning.. and the whole thing was caught on WebCam (link unfortunately now down)!

Construction of the 'Baby Dome', now known as Skyscape is complete. The structure, which is not a Dome at all, but a rather incongruous oblong structure with sail-like roof panels is located to the south-east of the main dome and will house two 2500-seat cinemas, one of which will also be capable of conversion to a 3250-seat performance arena for concerts during the Millennium year. The cinemas will also be used to provide visiting school groups with a preliminary briefing on the exhibitions in the dome itself as well as offering a new Blackadder production featuring Rowan Atkinson and the usual team.

The final main section of the new Millennium Pier has been transported by river from Rochester in Kent by crane-barge to its final location. Made from a new material created from recycled plastic bottles, this structure will provide the hinged covered bridge walkway from the landing stages to the shore.

Works on the new Riverside Walk and gardens are now also well underway. The Walk will include an area where private individuals (not companies) can have their names inscribed in stone, a scheme that was used at the last Olympic Games.

Zone and sponsor details were announced in November 1998. More details of the zones have been emerging week by week as things start to take shape.

The main external structure of the Dome is complete. The area around the Blackwall Tunnel Ventilation Shaft is separated from the main part of the Dome with full-height vertical panelling. Although slightly incongruous, it is reported that inside the Dome, the shaft actually provides a very useful reference point in the enormity of the overall space. 12 pods containing water tanks and generators are located around the periphery. Power feeds have been supplied to the site from both the south and from north of the River (via a new, and little-known tunnel that was specially constructed).

Internal works are well under way. Construction of approach roads to the Dome and to the newly opened North Greenwich Station have now made the whole immediate area almost unrecognizable even to local residents.

The best views of work in progress are from the Canary Wharf Tower, the Docklands Light Railway (East India Dock Station), the Blue Bridge on the Isle of Dogs (and local pub!) and, from the road system, the River Lea Crossing. Getting close on the Greenwich side remains problematic, and there is no viewing point with enough height apart from right back at Humber Road to the south of Trafalgar Road, or from the high points in Greenwich Park (such as in front of General Wolfe's statue next to the Royal Observatory).

More Dome History.. largely in reverse order

The Dome was 'topped-out' on June 22nd 1998 by the Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

On February 24th, 1998 Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, finally announced what would actually be inside the Dome. After two days of wide speculation in the press and on TV (BBC's Panorama), in which little that was on offer was anything but headline reporting of year-old information (a possible future for the Dome as a World Cup-attracting New Wembley, the entertainment Baby Dome that was never a 'Dome' at all), there was at least something new to hear about.

Scale models and details of most of the twelve pavilions were revealed. These include The Body Zone, Dreamscape, Licensed to Skill and The Learning Curve, Living Island, Serious Play, and Spirit Level.

At the same time it was announced that £75 million of a required £150 million had been committed by a larger group of commercial sponsors. In addition to renewed commitment from British Airways, British Telecom and the British Airports Authority, major new sponsors include BSkyB, Manpower and Tesco.

According to a newspaper report, subsequently hotly denied by all parties, British Telecom, one of the few companies at that time planning a significant investment in the New Millennium Experience, had threatened to pull its £12 million commitment to the Project, owing to dissatisfaction with the team planning the 'content'.

In mid-October 1998 a new, dynamic Web site was launched which allows the user to investigate the current state of the Dome in virtual reality.

A proposed cross-Thames cable-car link received planning permission from both Greenwich and Tower Hamlets Borough Councils in early 1998. However, reports on October 20th 1998 indicated that the private funding required for the Project had fallen through. The company behind the link may lose as much as £0.5 million. With the latest concerns about whether the Jubilee Line will be ready on time, the Project may yet be revived as a contingency measure, but time is running very short.

A June 1998 report even claimed another cable-car was planned from Greenwich Town Centre to the MEX site, but this seems highly unlikely to be granted planning permission given its passage across the river frontage of the Royal Naval College.

Click for an October 1997 picture sequence...

At the close of 1997, the New Millennium Experience Visitor Centre opened its doors in the old Squash Courts at the Royal Naval College in the centre of Greenwich (access from Cutty Sark Gardens). Exhibits included explanatory panels, a video describing the construction of the Dome, models of the Dome and touch-terminals linked to the official MEX web site.

(N.B. This has now been replaced by a new Greenwich Tourist Information Centre.)

Background

Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, finally announced on June 19th 1997 that the Millennium Exhibition (now the Millennium Experience) at Greenwich would go ahead, but with a major revamp of content, management and with strict spending controls. The Dome itself, originally conceived as a temporary structure, will now become a permanent landmark with a more robust construction. This decision follows a period of intense speculation about the future of the whole Project (see below).

An 'absolute and final decision' was originally taken on January 18th 1997 to host the UK's National Millennium Exhibition at Greenwich. The long-running fiasco of 'will it, won't it' was supposedly finally concluded with an agreement by all political parties to let the Exhibition go ahead as planned, but with some new cost controls and assurances. A review of the final 'business plan' was then expected in June 1997.

According to The Independent on Sunday of June 15th 1997, this farce-to-end-all-farces was set to have its 'plug' pulled right at the last possible moment by the then new Labour Government, despite the fact that all the preliminary site remediation and clearance work has been completed and a number of the main contracts have been signed and sealed. Another, final, decision was absolutely essential before June 23rd 1997, the date piling work for the Dome was due to begin. Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, and others in the Cabinet apparently considered the Exhibition to be a huge waste of public money and were said to favour refusing the £230 million funding required to ensure the Exhibition can be built. As stated above, a decision eventually came and was, instead, in favour of going ahead.

Erection of the first of the twelve 100 metre masts for the Dome occured at 10.30am on Monday, October 13th 1997. By Saturday morning (18th) four masts were in place, by the 25th, nine, and by 30th all twelve, despite a day's hold up as a result of protest action. This was considerably ahead of the one-in-two-days schedule originally set.

Regardless of the background to this Project, the reality is surely going to turn out to be something approaching another 'Wonder of the World'. Simply on the basis of what became obvious within one week, this construction effort looks set to be the 'legacy' so many people want from this event. Go and see for yourself.... On a beautiful day/evening, it is awe-inspiring!

---

Planning Application

Greenwich Council, at its Special Planning & Development Committee Meeting of 28/1/96 approved the initial planning application by Millennium Central for the Millennium Exhibition.

The Greenwich Peninsula, which is just down the road from Goldsmiths College, was chosen some time ago to host Britain's Millennium Exhibition in the year 2000, but there have been continual questions over its funding and whether it would happen despite all the initial assurances. It will now go ahead despite worries over total sponsorship money and its final cost.

The Exhibition will be the largest of its kind ever held in the UK and is expected to require a total investment of between £800 million and £1 billion. The current budget is £750 million, £250 million of which will come from National Lottery funds and the rest from private sponsorship. The celebrations will transform Greenwich Peninsula, a derelict 130-acre site owned by British Gas, once the home of one of the largest gas works in Europe and previous to that the birthplace of a number of important industries. It will act as an enormous spur to the regeneration of both Greenwich and the surrounding boroughs, in an area now known as the Thames Gateway.

The Imagination Group Ltd was originally selected to design and develop the contents of the Dome, but their involvement became less and less significant and more recent developments have resulted in the award of separate contracts for specific 'zones'. The Exhibition was originally planned to be based on the theme of Time - drawing on the historic associations of the Prime Meridian from which the world measures Greenwich Mean Time. Imagination's initial plans included 12 Pavilions, each focusing on a different aspect of Time, and arranged to form a giant Circle of Time. However, as Guy Stevenson, Imagination's special projects manager originally pointed out, the 'Time' theme " would not be chronological time as we know it, but different versions of time, such as action time, leisure time, and fun time". A changing program of educational and entertainment activities will run throughout the year, and the exhibition is expected to attract up to 12.5 million vistors to Greenwich.

The London Borough of Greenwich will have its own 'Pavilion' outside the Dome itself, which will house a restaurant and Exhibition Centre to the west of the Dome itself close to the section of the Thames Path that will follow the tip of the Peninsula, and this will remain as a 'legacy' feature and be open to the public after the MEX closes on December 31st 2000.

On October 31st 1996, provisional plans were released by Barry Hartop, the Government official in charge of co-ordinating the Project. The Richard Rogers Partnership, architects, have designed the world's largest domed building. The size of two Wembley Stadiums or 13 Albert Halls and taller than Nelson's Column, the Millennium Dome will be larger than Houston's Astrodome. Originally designed to be removed after the year-long Exhibition (now to be reprieved with steel designed for a life of 60 years, the 102,300 square metres of space is to be roofed with a renewable fabric covering of the latest materials suspended by cabling from 12 masts each 100 metres high. Now it will definitely remain as a 'legacy' building and it was initally suggested that it could become the world's largest indoor sporting centre.

However, a competition, managed by English Partnerships, began in March 1999 to formally decide the future of the Dome. From an initial entry of more than seventy, 12 proposals won through to the next stage. These plans were presented at Public Exhibitions at Christchurch Forum in East Greenwich and at the Theatre Royal, Stratford in November 1999. The six shortlisted proposals were decided in January 2000 and a final decision will be taken on the winning plan by late summer 2000.

The Government's efficiency adviser Sir Peter Levene was initially commissioned to examine the commercial viability of the project, and reported his findings to the Millennium Commission - the body initially set up by the previous Conservative Government to plan the celebrations for the new Millennium.

Meanwhile, Imagination were developing more details to their plans for the exhibition site, as well as starting to plan a series of 50 regional celebrations. Greenwich Council was investigating in more detail how to attract the maximum benefit for local people, in the lead up to, during and and after the Exhibition. This included the establishment of a local labour scheme to be known as Greenwich Local Labour in Construction (GLLiC). Careful planning will be needed to ensure that the development itself, and the influx of extra visitors, are properly managed to minimise disruption to the lives of local people and to avoid any negative impact on the local environment.

A major public consultation exercise was held at the end of October 1996. It included mail-shots to around 7000 local residents, distribution of 120,000 leaflets and a mobile 'roadshow' that visited all parts of the borough with outline plans for the site. The first stage of the planning application was discussed by Greenwich Council at a Special Planning & Development Committee Meeting at Woolwich Town Hall on January 28th 1997. Various public and privately arranged meetings also took place relating to the Exhibition plans.

Many other local and full Greenwich Council Planning & Development Committee Meetings of the Council have been held over the period leading up to the Exhibition. These have included local 'forums' to discuss the impact and implementation of the Greenwich Millennium Controlled Parking Zone (GMCPZ) and a range of traffic-calming options being developed by Greenwich Council consultants, Halcrow-Fox. This Web site plans to cover key issues raised at these meetings (which are open to the public) as well as other plans and developments.

Return to World Page