Millennium Dance 2000 Tap in to Opportunity

In October 140 dance and theatre students will be visiting Woolwich's Royal Arsenal to study at Millennium Dance 2000 in Thomas Street. Opening its doors for the first time, thanks to Gateway to London (GtL) who assisted the move, the award-winning performing arts school will be moving from Hampstead where it has been since it was founded in 1997.

Millennium graduates are hugely successful. Two of Millennium's students have joined the National Theatre, Lisa O'Hare is currently starring as Gigi and recently starred in Mary Poppins in the West End; Paul Kitson, was first cover in Dirty Dancing and Cassidy Jansen was first cover in Wicked. Millennium was also used in pre-production rehearsals by the Billy Elliot and Lord of the Rings companies and the school now educates two former Billy Elliotts.

Millennium had ambitious plans to increase its student intake, had outgrown its Hampstead base and needed to move. The school wanted to launch a new programme of courses to reach students from all ethnic groups, expand their existing timetable of courses to include evenings and weekends, and in doing so, widen their net to school children by running a supplementary junior course. These ambitions couldn't be realised in the old building.

Following a referral from its consultant in November 2006, GtL contacted the school, certain that London Thames Gateway would present them with new opportunities. After an in depth discussion about their requirements, GtL introduced Millennium to several prospective locations in London Thames Gateway.

GtL worked closely with Millennium for over eight months giving them a vast array of options to satisfy the company's unique and specific requirements, and in September 2007, when GtL arranged a meeting between themselves, Millennium, and Greenwich Waterfront Regeneration Agency's Woolwich Town Centre Manager and Regeneration Manager, a breakthrough was made.

There was an immediate synergy between the agency's, and the company's own philosophies on the importance of inclusivity in theatre, with potentially exciting implications for the outreach programme. Together they discovered the perfect permanent site in Royal Arsenal. However, work to transform the site into a purpose built location would take two years, so GtL also met the challenge to find an interim site, identifying a temporary location close to the new campus.

Councillor Peter Brooks, Deputy Leader, Greenwich Council, explained: "Gateway to London and Greenwich Waterfront Regeneration Agency worked together to realise Millennium's dream of extending their programme of courses. The temporary site in Thomas Street is just four minutes walk from Woolwich Arsenal station. As our flagship creative industries tenant, we hope Millennium will be the first of many to settle here."

Founded in 1671, Royal Arsenal grew into Britain's most strategic military complex and armaments factory and has undergone many a transformation. At its peak during World War I, 80,000 people were employed on site. Manufacturing ceased in 1964 but today's Royal Arsenal is a mix of commercial, residential and leisure facilities, regenerating a historic riverside location and transforming the 76-acre site into a successful new residential and commercial centre with extremely good public transport connections.

The continued success and growth of the Berkeley Homes (East Thames) Ltd development, Royal Arsenal has been instrumental in the extension of the Thames Clippers, fast ferry service that links Canary Wharf and the City to Woolwich. Since 2005, Thames Clippers' has docked at the Royal Arsenal Pier daily during peak commuter hours. These fantastic links are good news for Millennium whose local catchment area is Woolwich, Greenwich and Bexley, although it also accepts students from across the UK and the rest of the world.

The Thomas Street Woolwich site was formally part of Greenwich Polytechnic. Today, Millennium is close to signing the lease for the temporary space. Forty jobs have been retained and additional caretakers and support staff are expected to take up new roles. The site isn't suitable in its existing form so to prepare Millennium's new site partition walls will be removed, making way for five dance studios, four singing studios, three drama studios, a Pilates room/gymnasium, a coach/practice studio, offices, showers and toilets.

Millennium has already filled its September allocation of students and will play host to 140 students across three years. The new site is bigger than their previous base and will have more flexible opening hours, enabling the team to fulfil plans to open a feeder junior school at weekends to foster young talent. It will also be able to open until 9pm to host a new choir and community Pilates class.

Donald McLennan, Director, Head of Ballet, Millennium Dance 2000 said of Gateway to London's Inward Investment Manager: "He was fantastic help! Amazing! Gateway to London's assistance has been invaluable. This school will now continue to provide outstanding opportunities for young performers and play a leading role in the future of the industry. The school's expansion gives us increased capacity so we are urging prospective students to apply".