Millennium Dome - Chronology of The Project

Chronology of The Project

• 1994: Millennium Commission established by Prime Minister John Major and handed over to Deputy Prime Minister Michael Heseltine.
• 1 March 1995: Chief Executive Jennie Page appointed
• 19 June 1996: Greenwich Peninsula site selected over Birmingham by the Millennium Commission. The Birmingham NEC, Pride Park in Derby and Bromley-by-Bow in East London were the other locations on the final short list
• December 1996: Government decides to support the project with public money after being unable to raise private capital
• 19 June 1997: New Prime Minister Tony Blair visits Greenwich to announce that the Millennium Dome has been saved - on his personal say-so. The decision was taken only after a difficult Cabinet debate which lasted for more than an hour
• 20 June 1997: Tony Blair appointed Peter Mandelson to the role of Minister for the Millennium after his announcement that the beleaguered £580 million dome would go ahead
• 10 January 1998: Creative director Stephen Bayley quits the project. He is said to have been at "loggerheads" with Peter Mandelson as to who was in charge with the project
• 23 December 1998: Peter Mandelson resigns from government after a financial scandal
• 4 January 1999: Lord Falconer of Thoroton replaces Mandelson
• May 1999: The Jubilee Line Extension opens, putting the Dome on the London Underground. This too is seen as disorderly, opening 14 months late and with station facilities not yet complete (e.g. lifts for wheelchair access)
• 22 June 1999: structure of Dome completed
• 31 December 1999: the BBC Balloon was Flying during 2000 Today and used throughout 2000
• 31 December 1999 and 1 January 2000: VIP guests are kept waiting outside for hours because of a ticketing problem
• 1 January 2000: Dome structure opens to public as the Millennium Dome containing an exhibition to celebrate the third millennium
• 5 February 2000: Chief Executive Jennie Page sacked
• 26 July 2000: Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee publishes adverse report on Dome's management
• 7 November 2000: Thieves break in to the diamond exhibit during opening hours but are foiled by waiting police. Four men were jailed for the attempted robbery on 18 February 2002
• 9 November 2000: National Audit Office publishes report blaming unrealistic attendance targets for the Dome's financial problems
• 14 November 2000: Michael Heseltine (MP for Henley), the Dome's original political supporter, states "I have seen the inside story, and of course, with hindsight, all of us would do it differently"
• 31 December 2000: Dome closed to the public, having attracted just over six million visitors. The initial projected figure was twelve million
• 27 February 2001 - 2 March 2001: One Amazing Auction Sale: Four-day public auction with 17,000 lots of Dome/NMEC items, managed by auctioneer Henry Butcher
• 18 December 2001: Announcement of sale of site to Meridian Delta Ltd, who plan to turn it into a 20,000-seat sports and entertainment venue. Houses and offices will be built on the surrounding land, subject to the consent of the London Borough of Greenwich
• 6 December 2003: opening of Winter Wonderland 2003
• 25 May 2005: Anschutz Entertainment Group sells the naming rights to the former Millennium Dome to O2 plc, a British mobile phone company