Squaring up to the Dome

Lindsey
By Lindsey Last edited 201 months ago
Squaring up to the Dome
spike.jpg

With the Millennium and all its bugs naught but a distant memory the Greenwich Peninsula has lain fairly industrially desolate and half done for years, known mainly for the white elephant Dome, the sickly smell of the Tate & Lyle processing plant and the arse end of the Blackwall Tunnel.

Life is stirring in North Greenwich though and today saw the grand opening of Peninsula Square, the gateway to the finally reappropriated and rebranded Dome, the O2. The square, which is comparable in size to Leicester Square, features a canopy linking the tube and the O2, obligatory public art work and mood lighting, environmentally friendly trees and geysers, a permanent performance stage and a dramatic, leaning and twisted, 45m stainless steel spike. Just because.

The opening of the square and O2 heralds a new era for the Peninsula as one of the slowest burning regeneration projects ever finally gets moving. A completely new riverside community will be built over the next 15 years, including 10,000 eco-homes. Check out the interactive timeline for the project starting in 918AD.

Last Updated 15 June 2007