Reinventing the dome

For years, the Millennium Dome seemed destined to disappoint. Host City charts its conversion into The O2, versatile venue par excellence

The imposing dome-shaped structure that was the Millennium Dome was a drain on London’s resources for several years after its construction began in 1997. Created to celebrate the Millennium in the UK, this revolutionary venue initially fell short of expectation. The Dome opened as a major exhibition centre on the 1 January 2000 and was closed on the 31 December of the same year, with no future plans after it failed to reach its projected target of 12 million visitors in a year. The spectacular structure lay dormant for long after the turn of the millennium.

The arena was the largest of the structures
built within the dome

This all changed when AEG made plans to transform the Millennium Dome exhibition centre into a major entertainment venue, making it the UK’s biggest multi-functional space. With plans to use it during the 2012 Olympics, its uses are expansive. This is all thanks to shrewd planning and versatile construction.

Birth and transformation
Designed by UK architect Richard Rogers, the dome is an imposing structure on a peninsula on the southern bank of the river Thames in Greenwich. Measuring 90,000sqm, the venue extends into the London skyline by 50m.
Sir Robert McAlpine, who also redeveloped the venue into The O2, constructed the original Millennium Dome. McAlpine has been involved a huge number of architectural masterpieces, including Birmingham’s Bullring shopping centre, the Eden Project in Cornwall and the internationally renowned Emirates Stadium.

There are echoes of McAlpine’s other work in The O2. The most significant similarity to McAlpine’s previous work is The O2’s Bubble exhibition space, which is constructed from ETFE – the material used for the Eden Project – and is due to open with the Tutankhamun exhibition later this year.

When the Millennium Dome closed in December 2000, a bidding war began on what the dome would be transformed into, and who would acquire it. Meanwhile, the interior of the dome was demolished, leaving it standing as an empty shell.

A pedestrian avenue covers more than half of The O2’s floor space

In 2001, Meridian Delta acquired the structure, with the idea that they would develop the dome into a major sports and entertainment structure, with plans to regenerate the surrounding area with shops, housing and offices. The 999-year lease for the dome and its surrounding land was signed in partnership with the UK government and English Partnerships, a UK Governmental body for national regeneration who was assigned with the regeneration of the Greenwich Peninsula.

Meridian Delta sub-leased the dome to Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), for a minimum of 58 years, and as part of the investment programme, naming rights were sold to UK telecoms company O2 – now part of Spanish telecoms company Telefonica – and The O2 became the official name of the project in May 2007.

In 2005, US architecture firm HOK Sport Venue Event (HOK SVE) and UK-based structural engineer Buro Happold were taken on to plan the GBP 600m development, which began in 2005. The two companies had previously worked together on similar projects, most notably designing sports venues such as the Emirates Stadium, with fellow contractors Sir Alfred McAlpine.

Among the more difficult aspects of planning The O2 was generating interest from companies to invest in and develop the project. "There is a general cynicism towards regeneration schemes, something which is symptomatic of delays that are generally encountered on other comparable schemes, such as Battersea Power Station," says Alistair Wood, Real Estate Development Director for The O2. “One of the hardest sells to prospective partners and operators was our ability to deliver all the buildings and content we undertook to do in such a short period of time."

Although the original dome was a revolutionary concept, Wood says that the reason it didn’t succeed as an exhibition centre was because there wasn’t enough expertise with the companies involved to transform it into a world-class entertainment venue. “The dome as a concept was a fantastic structure but with no viable and creditable user. The great benefit that AEG could deliver was not just the development, but the programming of facilities once they were built. Our background in the music promotions, exhibitions, film production and live music industries meant that the content to sustain the facilities we built was practically guaranteed from the day we commenced development." he says.

As part of the plans for redevelopment, the exterior of the dome was unchanged, with the only additions being the attachment of blue lights to the 12 100m-high steel masts and plasma displays being added to some of the sculptures around the dome that advertise upcoming performances and events at the venue. They also feature sponsor advertising, which plays a key part in the design.

A pathway between North Greenwich station and The O2 was built to guide visitors to the venue. A glass roof was constructed over part of the pathway so to allow people to walk from the station to The O2 without getting wet in bad weather situations.

More than a venue
The Entertainment Avenue, managed by Montagu Estates, covers more than half of The O2’s floor space and features a pedestrian avenue within The O2, with artificial palm trees and other decorations, built around the central circular arena building. Running alongside the Entertainment Avenue, restaurants and bars allow visitors to fully enjoy their experience at the venue.

An eleven-screen Vue cinema has been designed to host movie premieres in addition to housing up to 770 visitors. The Peninsula Square outside the Entertainment Avenue allows open-air concerts to take place, in addition to providing an exterior socialising space for visitors. During the winter months, the outside space will be converted into a 900sqm ice rink to rival other London skating hotspots including Somerset House and the Natural History Museum.

The focal point of The O2 is the highly adaptable 23,000-capacity arena, which has been designed to host sporting, music and entertainment events, with the ability to swap between uses on limited timescales. Beneath the area, a permanent ice rink is maintained with insulation laid on top. Flooring materials for any event can then be laid out on top of this to change the ground between a basketball court, exhibition space, conference venue, private hire venue and concert venue within hours. The stage can be moved, or removed altogether to fit in with the set designer’s needs and event, with acoustics complemented by the shape of the arena itself. Seating can also be moved or removed to allow for standing areas or be removed to use the whole arena floor as a pitch.

Not limited to entertainment alone, the O2 Arena will play its part in the London 2012 Olympics by hosting the gymnastics and basketball competitions, with plans for the arena to become UK basketball team London Towers’ home ground after the Olympics.

Andy Young, Venues Director at The O2 says that it is this adaptability that is a key factor in attracting visitors and event organisers to host their events at The O2.

“The quality of the acoustics, the sightlines, comfort of seating, circulation spaces, bars and food concessions are critical to providing customers with a great environment in which they can fully enjoy the event. For event organisers, the scale and flexibility of the back of house facilities assists them to provide top quality entertainment," he says.

IndigO2 is a nightclub and intimate live music venue inside The O2, with a capacity of 2350. As a purpose-built music venue, IndigO2 has been designed with acoustics provided by a JBL sound system, plus Vari-Lite lighting with follow spots. Like the arena, IndigO2’s floor space is fully flexible, meaning seats can be inserted or removed depending on the event. There is also a premium seating area on the first floor that leads directly to a private bar lounge and dining room.

Although most of The O2 is now open to the public, there is still a large area opposite the Entertainment Avenue that is still awaiting development. Kerzner International, known for creating luxury resorts and top class casino centres throughout the world, contributed to the development of the entertainment venues and has been heavily involved in bidding for a super-casino to be built in the reserved space, when planning permission is granted. Almost 50,000sqm of floor space in The O2 has been set aside for the creation of the proposed super-casino, in addition to GBP 350m in a development set to rival Manchester’s Sportcity, which was granted planning permission in January 2007.

Neighbourhood facelift
Although the development of The O2 is almost complete, there is still more to come in the area. Plans to extend the development include a multifunctional entertainment village on the Greenwich Peninsula. The surrounding former docklands will be transformed to include shops, hotels, offices and more bars and nightclubs across 190 acres surrounding The O2.

The plans for this development, which will form part of the rejuvenation of the South Quay area, have been devised by architects Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. The blueprints include 61,700sqm of offices, a 400-room four star hotel, 1,062 apartments, including affordable housing, 13,000sqm of shops, cafes and restaurants, 1,760sqm of leisure, a health and fitness club, a doctor's surgery, children's play area and sports facilities, a winter-garden, waterside pedestrian and cycling routes, and an upgraded Docklands Light Rail station.
Young says that the growing success of The O2 as a venue cannot be pinned down to one aspect, but is the effect of a number of factors.

“It is well designed; great attention has been paid to the most important aspects of the building. The team managing the venue are very experienced and passionate about delivering really good events, with a visitor facing team that are well trained and motivated," he says.

The O2 contains attractions that will interest the broadest demographic, with the variety of Music, Sport and Entertainment in the arena and Indigo, cinematic content in the Vue Cinema and cultural exhibitions in Bubble. The diverse set of restaurants and bars, plus the ad hoc events in the public spaces means that most audience groups can find something of interest.
The acoustic qualities of the arena and Indigo2, the high-quality finishing of all the spaces and the focus on providing very high standards of customer service means The O2 is seen as a massive step forward for venues in the UK and Europe.

"With a wide range of events already booked and excellent feedback from visitors, clients and staff, we should build on the incredible success of the first months and set new benchmarks for the industry as a whole," says Young.