Historic Olympia reopens after £1.3bn revamp

The historic Olympia exhibition centre has reopened following a £1.3bn transformation aimed at turning the west London landmark into a major cultural, entertainment and business destination.

The venue on Hammersmith Road, which first opened in 1886, has undergone six years of redevelopment and is expected to attract about 3.5 million visitors a year once fully operational.

Developers say the site will host around 800 events annually and support about 9,000 jobs across London and the wider economy.

For nearly 140 years, the Victorian exhibition halls have hosted a variety of niche interests, from historic cat and dog shows to the annual Ideal Home Show.

Michael Volkert, chief executive of Olympia, said the estate had a rich history, having previously hosted legendary concerts by artists such as Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd.

The site has also featured gondolas in flooded exhibition halls during its past life.

"Last week we had London Tech Week here, we had over 30,000 people come to our exhibition halls from 150 nations," Volkert said.

"This estate is really something that is an icon internationally," he added.

The concept for the redevelopment was created by Thomas Heatherwick, the designer behind the 2012 Olympic cauldron.

He noted that the site had previously felt closed off from the city due to a one-kilometre wall around its perimeter.

"The weird thing was, it had stopped being a place for London, really," Heatherwick said.

"Each hall had got built one by one over time and they had sort of accumulated into this one big mass," he said.

The new design features 2.5 acres of public space, including Emberton Walk, an internal pedestrian street with its own postcode.

It also features a large glass rooftop canopy offering panoramic views of the capital's skyline.

Live entertainment sits at the heart of the project, which includes a 3,800-capacity music venue called the British Airways ARC.

Operated by AEG Presents, the venue is scheduled to open on 16 June with the first of two nights from Mercury Prize nominee Self Esteem.

Lucy Noble, from AEG Presents, said the space filled a gap in the market for mid-sized venues in west London.

The wider campus will eventually feature two new hotels and a 550,000 sq ft office building housing the Premier League's international content production studios.

A new International Convention Centre will also be built to complement the heritage halls.

The transformation is set to culminate in 2027 with the opening of the British Airways Theatre, which will be the largest new theatre built in London for more than half a century.

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