A recent trip to North Greenwich was a chance to see how the famous Millennium Dome was progressing in its new guise as the O2 entertainment complex under the management of American entertainment operators AEG who now run the Dome. It was also a chance to see how the former toxic wasteland of gasworks and “dirty” industry which formerly occupied the peninsula bounded by the River Thames was progressing in its reincarnation as the new neighbourhood opposite Canary Wharf, Greenwich Peninsula.
Greenwich Peninsula Master plan
The Dome is one of the iconic landmarks of London providing a reference point by air and river and last, but not least, the opening credits of the soap opera “Eastenders.” It even featured in the James Bond movie “The World is Not Enough.”
The O2 inside The Dome
Originally championed by the Conservative politician Michael Heseltine to kick-start the development of the Thames Gateway it was designed to revive a disadvantaged area of London with poor transport links for the 2000 Millennium. Commissioned to mark the beginning of the new Millennium, the Millennium Dome was intended as a celebratory, iconic, non-hierarchical structure offering a vast, flexible space.
Dome Interiors
Although a high-profile project in its own right, the building also formed a key element of the master plan by its architect Richard Rodgers for the future development of the entire Greenwich Peninsula. When Tony Blair and the Labour Government were elected in the historic 1997 General Election they enthusiastically made the project their own seeing in it the echoes of the 1951 Festival of Britain with its “Dome of Discovery” which was also championed by a Labour Government. Back in 1951, the festival was devised by Labour deputy leader Herbert Morrison as "a tonic for the nation". A newsreel of the time described it as giving an "inexplicable lift to the heart", recreating the feel of a trip to the seaside.
One of the great stains on the competence of Tony Blair’s first government issues related to the Dome damaged Peter Mandelson's and John Prescott's political careers. The scheme was seen as an early example of what some saw as Tony Blair's often excessive optimism, who stated at the Dome's opening: "In the Dome we have a creation that, I believe, will truly be a beacon to the world". The fact that Mandelson's grandfather was Herbert Morrison who as a minister had been involved with the Festival of Britain often was drawn on for negative comparisons.
Among the problems which were identified in the post-mortem were;
Failure to attract 12m visitors
Confused priorities
Lack of contents plan
Weak financial control
Wrong management structure
£30m closure cost not anticipated
The cost of the building and contents was within half of one per cent of the original £750m budget. But the project had to be bailed out with an extra £230m in National Lottery grants because its income fell well short of budget, mainly because of a shortfall in visitors. The company had also failed to anticipate it would cost more than £30m to close the project down, he said.
The 2000 Millennium Exhibition
The Dome itself was built on time for a relatively modest £48m but the problem was filling the vast space. The building structure was engineered by Buro Happold, and the entire roof structure weighs less than the air contained within the building. Although referred to as a dome it is not strictly one as it is not self-supporting, but is a mast-supported, dome-shaped cable network. The building was the winner of the 2000 RIBA Gold Medal for outstanding architecture. The exhibition and Millennium show devised were seen as preachy, patronising and plain trite, one of the areas was sponsored by McDonald’s and it failed to attract the 12m projected paying visitors, the final tally was a tad over 6m visitors.
1 January 2000: The Queen and Prince Philip join hands with the Blairs and Princess Anne to sing the traditional New Year's Eve 'Auld Lang Syne' at midnight during the opening celebrations at the Millennium Dome in Greenwich
Even the opening ceremony with the Queen and an invited renta-crowd who had to queue for 3 hours for transport to the dome looked execrable. The Nation could tell her Britannic Majesty was not amused and the Nation sympathised with her. The fact that after the exhibition ended that the Dome lay virtually unused for almost 8 years whilst a hugely inept search for alternative uses ensued added to the air of incompetence surrounding the Dome and all its works.
http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2011/06/60th-anniversary-of-festival-of-britain.html
The dome is the largest of its type in the world. Externally, it appears as a large white marquee with twelve 100 m-high yellow support towers, one for each month of the year, or each hour of the clock face, representing the role played by Greenwich Mean Time. In plan view it is circular, 365 m in diameter — one metre for each day of the year — with scalloped edges. It has become one of the United Kingdom's most recognisable landmarks. It can easily be seen on aerial photographs of London. Its exterior is reminiscent of the Dome of Discovery built for the Festival of Britain in 1951.
Dome Entrance Area
Apart from the dome itself, the project included the reclamation of the entire Greenwich Peninsula. The land was previously derelict and contaminated by toxic sludge from East Greenwich Gas Works that operated from 1889 to 1985. The clean-up operation was seen by the then Deputy Prime Minister Michael Heseltine as an investment that would add a large area of useful land to the crowded capital. This was billed as part of a larger plan to regenerate a large, sparsely populated area to the east of London and south of the River Thames; an area initially called the East Thames Corridor but latterly marketed as the "Thames Gateway".
From the closure of the original "Millennium Experience" exhibition occupying the site, several possible ways of reusing the Millennium Dome's shell were proposed and then rejected. The official renaming of the Dome on 31 May 2008 as “The O2” indicated its long awaited transition into an entertainment district. The Dome's shell itself remained in situ but its interior and the area around North Greenwich Station, the QE2 pier and the main entrance area was completely redeveloped.
"Entertainment Avenue"
The area is served by North Greenwich tube station, which was opened just before the millennium exhibition, on the Jubilee Line, and by bus routes. Thames Clippers operate a river boat service for London River Services; the present tenants, AEG, purchased Thames Clippers in order to provide river links between central London and The O2. As well as a commuter service, Thames Clippers also operates The O2 Express service. The Dome reopened in 2007 and has since hosted concerts by acts including Led Zeppelin, Prince and Kylie Minogue. It will also be an official venue for the 2012 Olympics, hosting basketball and gymnastics.
The O2 is a music, sports and entertainment venue that’s already setting new international benchmarks. At the centre is a 23,000 capacity arena for the hottest music acts and world-class sports events. And there’s also indigO2, a 2,300 seat venue for more intimate performances and an 11 screen cinema. There is also the O2 Bubble - a spectacular exhibition space currently showing The Titanic Artefact exhibition and Entertainment Avenue - packed with restaurants, bars and clubs.
Redevelopment has also taken place of the approaches to the Dome.
Titanic Exhibition
Just outside The O2, there’s Peninsula Square, London’s newest and most spectacular outdoor space. It’s a great place to meet with friends and relax before a show or at lunchtime. The focal point of the square, Peninsula Spire - at 45 metres, is the UK’s tallest stainless steel structure, and a permanent art installation. There’s a growing green wall - draped with vegetation - and a performance wall with a plasma screen and a purpose-built free concert stage for special events, festivals and performances.
The distinctive cladding of Pierhead Walk
The outdoor screen
Patterns engraved in the granite paving tell the story of the Greenwich Meridian, and geysers set in the paving animate the square with soaring columns of water. At night, vibrant lighting accentuates the square’s exciting architecture.
The "Living Wall"
As for the Greenwich Peninsula it is a highly constrained development site bordered on 3 sides by the River Thames still bearing the scars of a diverse industrial history. Covering 74 hectares with 2.5 km of river frontage, its comprehensive regeneration marks one of the largest planning applications ever submitted in London and presented significant challenges to the design team. London's new community will embrace the riverside and provide homes for 25,000 people and jobs for 24,000. New offices, shops, restaurants and bars have opened. There are parks, a school and a world-class entertainment complex, The O2 – everything a new community needs.
North Greenwich Station
All this is served by North Greenwich station on London Underground's Jubilee Line, opened on 14 May 1999. The station is located within a 358 metre-long box sunk into waterlogged (and partly contaminated) soil. It is adjacent to the Millennium Dome at the northern end the Greenwich peninsula. It is between Canary Wharf and Canning Town, and is on the boundary between Travelcard Zone 2 and Zone 3.The striking blue-tiled and glazed interior, with raking concrete columns rearing up inside the huge underground space, was designed by the architectural practice Alsop,Lyall and Störmer.
Platform 2 with platform edge doors
Station forecourt with glass canopy leading visitors to the O2
The station has an unusual layout as it was originally to serve a branch to London City Airport at Albert Dock across the river but after it was designed the proposal to serve the airport using the Docklands Light Railway was adopted so the extension was cancelled. A further disadvantage with the station layout was it was designed for the continuous traffic to the Dome exhibition but has difficulty coping with the heavy traffic after concerts end at the O2 meaning 23,000 people enter the station in a 45 minute period. This has not been helped by delays in the Jubilee Line upgrade project which was meant to be completed in 2009 but is still “getting there.”
Canary Wharf seen from the Dome
Only 20 minutes from London's West End, Greenwich Peninsula is well served with modern transport connections and yet only a couple of miles from elegant historic Greenwich. It's new and distinct, as well as being connected to an established peninsula community.
http://www.greenwichpeninsula.co.uk/
So today despite the naysayers over the years the Dome and the Greenwich Peninsula are looking good. AEG have been hugely professional and successful in building a buzz at the O2, so much so that many of the attendees are from abroad booked on concert or event packages. This is a trend which can only accelerate with the 2012 Olympics in London. The Greenwich Peninsula developments are building up critical mass and they have only to look across the river at the gleaming towers of Canary Wharf to see a hugely successful new neighbourhood which has seen of a recession and soothsayers of doom to succeed. So slightly later than expected this is going to be one of London’s more interesting and happening neighbourhoods and the Dome is becoming one of those “temporary” structures that cities cannot imagine themselves doing without like the Eiffel Tower, London Eye and, take a bow, London’s Dome!
The Millennium Dome seen from Greenwich riverside
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