Plans for skydiving centre next to The O2 in Greenwich

Planning permission has been requested to build the skydiving centre adjacent and attached to The O2, allowing participants to experience the feeling of skydiving through a wind tunnel.

The iFly facility would provide a 45-60 minute leisure experience, including the time for the users to be trained and geared up ready for the indoor skydive.

The developers applied for full planning permission for the erection of the building on August 25, stating the intention to build an indoor skydiving leisure attraction as an extension on to The O2 Arena.

It describes the development as an "erection of two storey building as an extension to The O2 to accommodate an indoor skydiving leisure attraction, including use of part of The O2 for leisure use, and associated works.”

What the new centre will look like

In the planning statement submitted by iFly to Greenwich Council, the developers say this is an excellent opportunity to provide a new leisure attraction to complement existing uses at The O2, and develops upon an underutilised area of brownfield land.

The O2 Arena on the Greenwich Peninsula

A pre-application request was submitted to the council in 2019 and received support from officers who said it would support the expansion and diversification of Greenwich's tourism industry, attracting more visitors to the area.

The O2, an imposing structure which rises to 50 meters in height at its apex and has a diameter of 365 meters, was first constructed as the Millennium Dome to celebrate the arrival of the new millennium.

Now known as The O2, it is a world leading cultural leisure and entertainment venue, operating from June 2007, and has acted as a catalyst for the regeneration of the Greenwich Peninsula Area.

The skydiving centre would be built to the north east of The O2, comprising of around 1161sq.m, with part of the site connecting within the existing structure adjacent to the arena's canopy structure.

The building extends to maximum height of 22.1 metres, although due to the nature of the proposal, only has two internal floors, with the remainder of the required to house the machinery and equipment required to operate the attraction.

The ground floor comprises the main ‘front of house’ areas, including the reception and lobby area to welcome visitors, a bar, and ancillary storage and office functions.

At the first floor, the building accommodates the main flight chamber and ancillary functions including lockers, training room and equipment, as well as a party room and plant.

Above this level, the flight chamber extends vertically, whilst the ground floor of the building links the iFly facility to within The O2, proving the central point of access into the attraction.

The building visible externally of The O2 will be constructed with a darker colour cladding below The O2 canopy, and a lighter colour cladding against the canopy, in order to blend in to the existing elevation of The O2 and its distinctive white canopy.

There is a maximum of 13 flyers per session and based upon visitor numbers from iFly’s Basingstoke attraction from 2019, it could reasonably generate 63,000 flyers, plus an average of one spectator per flyer, per annum.

As a reference, The O2 takes an average of 110,000 climbers per year over 340 days with 2019 being its peak year with 123,500 climbers.