{"id":653089,"date":"2026-06-23T00:19:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T00:19:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/653089\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T00:19:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T00:19:23","slug":"olympia-reborn-how-londons-historic-exhibition-venue-has-been-revitalised-for-the-modern-age-building-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/653089\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympia reborn: How London\u2019s historic exhibition venue has been revitalised for the modern age | Building Study"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"byline meta\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bdonline.co.uk\/thomas-lane\/4503232.bio\" rel=\"author nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Thomas Lane<\/a>2026-06-22T06:00:00<\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"olympica index\" loading=\"eager\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2032395_olympicaindex_406730.jpg\"  width=\"100\" height=\"67\" class=\"lazyloaded\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The \u00a31.3bn transformation of the historic venue in west London has added entertainment, hospitality and workspace to an already congested site. Thomas Lane visits one of the capital\u2019s most complex construction projects<\/p>\n<p>When the ExCeL London opened in 2000, the axis of the capital\u2019s large exhibition venues shifted decisively to the east. Although remotely located in the Royal Docks, it offered capacity for up to 68,750 visitors, a conference centre, parking, a large marshaling yard and drive in access for HGV\u2019s. By contrast London\u2019s traditional exhibition venues, Earls Court, now demolished, and Olympia were smaller, tired and lacked the space and facilities of the newcomer in the east.<\/p>\n<p>Now Olympia is fighting back with a \u00a31.3bn redevelopment which will eclipse much of what ExCeL has to offer other than huge amounts of space. In addition to the three existing exhibition halls, it will include a new theatre \u2013 London\u2019s largest since the National Theatre opened in 1976 \u2013 a live music venue and lots of new bars and restaurants unique to Olympia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ambition for Olympia is to create one of London\u2019s most dynamic destinations, a place where culture, entertainment, hospitality, business and public life come together in one iconic setting,\u201d explains Michael Volkert, the chief operating officer of Olympia Estates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Thomas Lane2026-06-22T06:00:00 The \u00a31.3bn transformation of the historic venue in west London has added entertainment, hospitality and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-653089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}