Dome shortlist down to two

Dome duel: two visions remain for its future.

The future of London's Millennium Dome has come down to a duel between business and leisure.

The shortlist of consortia looking to take over the £758m attraction at the end of the year has been whittled down by the government from five to just two

One of them, the Japanese-backed Dome Europe group, wants to keep the Millennium Experience running at the Greenwich site.

Their competitors, Legacy plc, plans to strip out the Dome's current contents, and turn it into London's answer to Silicon Valley.

It was a difficult decision to narrow down a very strong field

Lord Falconer

The two consortia will now have until 23 June to submit more detailed plans to the government, before a winner is announced later this summer.

Dome Europe

The Dome Europe bid is led by the Japanese finance group Nomura, and intends to invest more than £100m into the site from over the next three years.

It wants to develop the Dome and use 15 acres of surrounding land to provide a piazza, a garden, a children's adventure playground and a riverside walk.

It would also add two new zones to the Millennium Experience inside the dome in 2001 with more to follow, and a rolling programme of events and shows.

The consortium also want to develop a "hawker's market" featuring the "sights, tastes and smells of food from across Europe", as well as an arts and crafts market and a "space and time" pavilion.

Dome Europe believe it can attract 15m visitors between 2001 and 2004, and create more than 5,700 jobs.

Legacy plc

Legacy's plans relate only to the Dome, which it wants to transform into a world-leading community of new businesses.

The consortium plans to invest around £150m into transforming the structure and its surrounds to create a completely new living and working place.

It says the Dome would become a "24 hour city", with shops, cafeterias, restaurants and bars serving people who would be encouraged to start and grow small to medium-sized businesses.

Legacy is predicting that its scheme will mean 9,000 new jobs at Greenwich and up to five times that in the surrounding area.

Lasting legacy

Lord Falconer, the Government minister with responsibility for the Dome, said: "We have been tremendously impressed by the creativity of the proposals."

"It was a difficult decision to narrow down a very strong field. But I am confident that with these two proposals we will be able to deliver a lasting legacy for Greenwich, London and the UK."