The battle to buy the Millennium Dome intensified today with the alliance of two rival bidders.
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Millennium Dome
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The Experience consortium - which includes showbusiness impresario Mr Harvey Goldsmith - agreed to join a four-company group which includes the Duke of Westminster's company, Grosvenor.
The Grosvenor consortium is already in talks with the BBC and Tussaud's Group in its bid for the Dome.
The link with Experience means the consortium can offer a very serious challenge to a rival bid from former Dome chief executive Mr Pierre-Yves Gerbeau who wants to keep the Dome as a visitor attraction.
News of the Experience link-up with Grosvenor was confirmed today by Mr Paul Stansfield, managing director of property company Pilton Group which created Experience.
It was understood that English Partnerships, the regeneration agency that owns the Dome site, was talking to various bidders today.
Last week, the British government stripped the Legacy company of its preferred-bidder status for the Dome after being less than satisfied with its plans to turn the Greenwich site into a hi-tech business city.
This meant the bidding process has had to start all over again and English Partnerships hopes to announce the new bidding rules in around two weeks' time.
PA