Retail
Completing
The O₂’s
inner circle
18 NSC
February 18
The O₂, formerly known as the
Millennium Dome, is again in the
midst of a transformation as a topend
retail village takes shape inside
of the vast fabric-covered structure.
Home to the renowned 21,000-capacity
O₂ Arena, this current construction work,
being undertaken by ISG on a £69M design
and build contract, will on completion help
to finally ring the famous venue with outlets.
This is not the first construction project
to have taken place within the domed
structure. A trawl back through history
reveals that once the millennial celebrations
and exhibition, that the Dome had been built
to house, had finished, the structure faced an
uncertain future.
Demolition was mooted in some
quarters, but once Anschutz Entertainment
Group took over ownership in 2007 it
reinvented the Dome by constructing the
arena and a street of bars and restaurants
see NSC May 2006.
A retail village being constructed around part of
The O₂ Arena is helping to finally complete the ring
of outlets surrounding the well-known venue.
Martin Cooper reports.
Construction
progresses within the
vast dome
Model showing the
two-storey steel
element on the right
and the reused truses
and slab on the left
/Retail_buildings
/Leisure_buildings#Indoor_arenas
/Construction