The National Audit Office publishes the findings of its investigation into the dome on Thursday. It is expected to be heavily critical of the current and past governments and the management of the company running the Greenwich attraction. Some of the people and companies who have been involved gave their verdict to epxNews.

Stephen Bayley, the design consultant hired to oversee content in the dome, resigned after concluding that the Greenwich project would be sub-Disney theme park. He said: "There is more than enough blame to spread around but if you ask me for one person that is responsible for the ruinous disaster then Peter Mandelson is it."

Two of the major sponsors said they remained positive about the Greenwich attraction. Ford Motor Company, sponsors of the journey zone said: "It has been very successful. The dome has been one of the biggest visitor attractions in the UK and in Europe. We have been very pleased with the response to the Journey zone." BT - backers of the Talk zone - said: "We are more than happy with our zone at the dome. The report is a political matter for politicians."

Virginia Bottomley who, as heritage secretary, was involved in the early stages of the project's planning unsurprisingly blamed the current administration. "The Labour Party has paid the price for politicising the dome. They killed it with focus groups and the prime minister giving away a million tickets to school children killed without consultation killed the revenue. The main architect of its failure is Peter Mandelson who wanted to turn it into a kind of Sheffield rally and saw it as a metaphor for the 1997 election campaign."