A new street has opened in Kensington, 50 feet off the ground.
It's on top of the roof of the Olympia exhibition halls.
It's open to the public so you can totally go up there and walk through.
And it's utterly extraordinary, in a nakedly commercial way. [12 photos]
Olympia has been a building site for the best part of a decade, and still is in places, but the wraps have just come off the premier new feature which is a massive development on top of what was previously here. The owners thought "where can we add new stuff on a limited footprint" and decided the best place was on the roof, then went full turbo getting as much up there as possible. Restaurants and bars, two hotels, offices and a music venue have all been perched on top, not yet all open but Mexican-inspired bites and Self Esteem are already an option. My gob was well and truly smacked.
You get up there on a whopping outdoor escalator which is the first WTF moment. There you are walking down the side of the tube station past the usual exhibition entrances and suddenly this celestial glide appears in a gap between buildings. It goes all the way to the top in one go which is a long way, indeed if you choose to take the stairs instead it's 82 steps from ground level. Confirmation it's high comes when you pass the statues of Triptolemus, Demeter and Persephone on the roof in front of the Great Hall. Annoyingly I only ever went up this set of escalators, not down, because I imagine the unbroken view back across west London must be something else.
At the top is a cluster of restaurants collectively called Canopy. The name refers to the shell of 520 glass panels that curves over the top, but not fully so some of the diners on the outer terraces could get wet if the weather turns. The canopy's also retractable, which might be a clue that this whole architectural caboodle has been concocted by Thomas Heatherwick, who else? The dining selection includes Bar Arriba (the aforementioned Mexican option), Lillie's (who do small plates and English wines) and Wolves of Japan (cuisine hopefully obvious). For those with less dosh a food hall called Arbour does fried chicken, smash burgers and forkbowls, all decked out in various shades of brown, plus there's the obligatory cafe with artisanal coffee and three flavours of choux bun.
You might wonder who'd eat here but I saw several suited gentlemen emerging from their exhibition sessions and gliding up for a business lunch between the potted shrubbery, also slimmer commercial associates poking a salad. I think I turned up a few hours before some glitzy opening extravaganza so also saw PR women fussing around near microphones and chefs emerging from dark kitchens clutching something liquid in the general direction of a temporary stage. The occasional glimpse between buildings reminded me I was several storeys up because it's all too easy to forget that Emberton Walk - the name given to this artificial linear concoction - is really a street in the sky.
The walkway then enters a boxy tunnel, this because they also built on top of the terrace they built on top of Olympia. Three glass towers rise above, these kitted out as offices marketed as One Olympia and as yet up for grabs. No flats are included which is odd because any penthouse with those views would command extreme prices, but private accommodation was never in the planning documents. Also the tunnel's not yet lined with shops, though it looks like it ought to be eventually, only bland black doors through which Olympia staff occasionally emerge. The wow factor here comes from the roof which is covered by a long thin tongue of LED screens, presumably to distract from the vertical tedium. The display spent a few minutes as a collage of branded red balls, then suddenly switched to a bright blue sky... something you could have seen for real a few steps outside.
At the far end is an unexpected sight, a digital sign saying Box Office (alternating with 'Show Your Tickets Using The Official Venue App"). That's because they've also slotted in a 500-capacity music venue, and this has already opened with back-to-back nightly performances from the lyrically deadpan Self Esteem. Branding rights have been sold to a blue chip company which is why it's called the British Airways ARC, and their Venue App is essential because you won't be admitted unless your ticket's on it. British Airways have also sponsored a 1500-seat theatre that won't be opening until late next year, the largest of its kind in London since the 1976, although this'll have an entrance at ground level rather than being yet another Heatherwick floater.
The other way up, which is the way I went down, is another set of mega-escalators at the far end of the long walkway. Again it comes with 82 steps alongside, seemingly built to cater for post-performance crowds, although there's also an express lift if you hunt around carefully enough. This sloping artery connects to a freshly-spruced pavement on Hammersmith Road, not yet fully exposed, only a slim slot of which is visible on the way down. If you cross the road and look back you can see how beautifully scrubbed the exterior of the original building is - as creamily Art Deco as any facade dated 1929 might be - but now a peculiar stacked hybrid with Heatherwick's glass/metal storeys squatting on top.
A lot of new projects claim to be 'destinations' but this is going all out to be, with multiple forms of upmarket entertainment packed into a limited block of prime real estate. Olympia's not just the Ideal Home Exhibition and trade fairs any more, it's culture, cuisine and co-working space, and all watched over by a minor army of security staff because the non-paying public's only here on sufferance. It may or may not be for you but at some point you need to experience this Dubai-like bubble amid the rooftops of W14 and climb to the heights of Olympia. You may not meet gods but your awe will be struck and your jaw will drop at the sheer commercial chutzpah of it all.
