The first phase of Olympia’s £1.3bn transformation opens today, co-designed by Heatherwick Studio and SPPARC.
The masterplan has recast the exhibition centre as a new cultural district while restoring the site’s serene Victorian heritage.
A curving glass canopy is now the centrepiece of a public realm that unfolds around Olympia’s historic rooftops. These streets, squares and gardens connect the exhibition halls with new theatre and music venues, hotels, offices, bars, restaurants and a school, which all open in stages over the coming year.
Olympia has been synonymous with public spectacle since 1886, hosting everything from international trade fairs to concerts by Jimi Hendrix. However, its modern 14-acre site (the size of eight football pitches) had remained closed off to anyone without a ticket, cut off from the daily life of London until today.
Thomas Heatherwick, Founder and Design Director of Heatherwick Studio, said:
“What was once a kilometre-long perimeter of lifeless inward-facing buildings is now a place where culture, creativity and the city’s energy overlap. Olympia is showing that we can take extraordinary British heritage and adapt it with care, imagination and purpose for the future.”
The new glass canopy crowns an elevated street of bars, restaurants and plant-filled terraces, where visitors enjoy sweeping views of London. Its curve echoes the barrel-vaulted roofs of the Grade II* and Grade II-listed Grand and National Halls, and the 520 glass panels fan outwards, sitting lightly within the historic architecture.
The structure beckons the public up from Olympia Way, which is now an attractive pedestrian-first street, no longer filled with lorries and Portacabins thanks to a new underground logistics centre.
Eliot Postma, Partner and Group Leader at Heatherwick Studio, added:
“Working with Olympia’s Victorian structure wasn’t about imposing something new but learning from what’s already there – its span, rhythm and generosity – and building out from that. The canopy is an amazing technical achievement and turns what was once an inward-looking venue into something open, connected and much more human.”
The pleated glass pattern of the Great Hall’s roof is reflected in the canopy as well as the exteriors of the British Airways Theatre, citizenM hotel and Olympia Central offices. These offices are the highest structure on the site and benefit from stepped architecture, which reduces the building’s visual impact from street level. It also creates large outdoor terraces – up to about 100m in length – with spectacular views across the city.
The British Airways Theatre, opening in 2027, will be the largest new purpose-built theatre in London for 50 years. And Olympia itself has a projected annual footfall of 10 million visits, contributing over £600 million to the UK economy each year.
