The future of London's Millennium Dome has come down to a duel between business and leisure. The Government has chosen two of the shortlisted consortia looking to take over the £758m attraction at the end of this year – the favourite Dome Europe and outsider Legacy. Financial details of the bids have not been revealed although a spokesman for English Partnerships, which is handling the sale, did not dispute estimates of between £50m and £150m.

The Japanese-backed Dome Europe group, plans to keep the Millennium Experience running at the Greenwich site. Legacy plc would strip out the Dome's current contents and turn it into London's answer to Silicon Valley.

The Dome Europe bid is led by the Japanese finance group Nomura, and proposes investment of more than £100m into the site over the next three years, creating more than 5,700 jobs. The scheme would see 15 acres of surrounding land being developed to provide a piazza, a garden, a children's adventure playground and a riverside walk.

Dome Europe: Dome Europe plans to keep the Dome and the Millennium experience running.

The consortium believes the Dome can attract 15 million visitors between 2001 and 2004, roughly in line with current numbers, although still ambitious for what many may see as a one visit only attraction. So far just over 2.25 million people have visited the Dome, against a target for the year of 10 million.

Legacy's plans relate only to the Dome, which it wants to transform into a world-leading community of new businesses. The consortium plans to spend around £150m on transforming the structure and its surroundings to create a completely new location for living and working.

Dome Legacy: Legacy plans to turn the Dome into a '24-hour city'.

Legacy says the Dome would become a '24-hour city', with shops, cafeterias, restaurants and bars serving people who would be encouraged to start and grow small to medium-sized businesses. Legacy is predicting that its scheme will mean 9,000 new jobs at Greenwich and up to five times that number in the surrounding area.

Although the Government would prefer that the "architectural integrity' of the Dome itself be respected, it has an 80 year life, it has not ruled out changes.

Lord Falconer, the Government Minister with responsibility for the Dome, said: "We have been tremendously impressed by the creativity of the proposals received. The Dome has established itself as a national and international asset, and the competition has clearly fired the imagination of major developers and operators, both in the United Kingdom and from abroad."

"It was a difficult decision to narrow down a very strong field, but I am confident that with these two proposals we will be able to deliver a sustainable future for the Dome and provide a lasting legacy for Greenwich, London and the UK."

The two consortia have until 23 June to submit more detailed plans to the government, before a winner is announced later this summer.

Anna Lagerkvist