Gerbeau slopes off to Milton Keynes

THE Frenchman hired to save the Millennium Dome is fronting a project to build a £300m chain of indoor ski slopes and leisure centres in Britain. Displaying all the enthusiasm he employed in his efforts to rescue the stricken Dome, Pierre-Yves Gerbeau said: 'I want to develop all those crazy ideas from my little tent.'

Gerbeau has hired a handful of former executives from the Dome to work at Xscape, a £64m indoor ski and leisure park at Milton Keynes, Bucks, developed by quoted property group Capital & Regional.

There are plans to raise up to £300m to open other grander centres in Britain and Europe. So far the company has identified sites at Castleford, West Yorkshire, and Braehead in Glasgow. They will be followed by a larger park in Germany.

Gerbeau, who has taken an equity stake in the venture, said the business could be demerged from C&R and floated. He said: 'After the Dome I always wanted to stay in England, despite offers from abroad. This project is all about building something instead of fixing it.'