Tops launches plan to transform site into indoor sports centre as government seeks quick solution
Jane Roberts
Tops Estates is bidding to transform the Millennium Dome into the UK’s largest sports complex.
A previous report suggested Tops would turn the venue into a retail centre. However, it emerged this week that Everard Goodman’s property company has been working for months on ideas for transforming the Greenwich centre into a complex to house the country’s highest indoor ski-slope, a national training centre for the Lawn Tennis Association, and a host of other participatory sports from scuba diving to climbing.
People using the facilities would also be able to spend their money in restaurants, bars and sports and lifestyle shops which would take up about a quarter of the space. It is proposed that entry to the venue would be free.
Tops lodged its bid with the government and English Partnerships last month and the scheme was presented on Thursday night to Greenwich councillors at a secret meeting.
Quintain and Lend Lease, which suffered a setback six weeks ago when former partners Grosvenor and Stanhope pulled out of the project, also presented their revised Meridian Delta scheme at the same meeting. It features a proposal to turn the giant tent into an arena for spectator sports and pop concerts and is backed by US billionaire Philip Anschutz.
Sources among the rival bidders, which include the Wellcome Trust, now believe the government is determined to make a quick decision, probably before Christmas.
Tops is likely to have stressed its track record at delivering leisure schemes as well as the shopping for which it is better known. Its Dome concept has been created by director Nick Barton, responsible for Tops’ new leisure scheme in Shepherd’s Bush, which was opened on Thursday night by Robbie Williams.
If Tops wins, Barton will be managing director of a company controlled by the property firm but with other investors brought on board.
Tops’ bid is only for the Dome itself, leaving English Partnerships free to do another deal on surrounding land. Apart from English Partnerships, Quintain is the only player to have a substantial adjoining landholding. It controls 18 acres and stands to benefit when the Dome is sold – even to a rival.
