Spinnaker Tower
| Spinnaker Tower | |
|
Hampshire | |
|---|---|
 The Spinnaker Tower | |
| Type: | Observation tower |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SZ62939994 |
| Location: | 50°47’44"N, 1°6’31"W |
| City: | Portsmouth |
| History | |
| Address: | Gunwharf Quays |
| Built 2001 - 2005 | |
| By: | HGP Greentree Allchurch Evans |
| Observation tower | |
| Information | |
| Owned by: | Portsmouth City Council |
The Spinnaker Tower is a landmark observation tower 560 feet high on the harbour-front in Portsmouth, Hampshire. It is the centrepiece of the redevelopment of Portsmouth Harbour, which was supported by a National Lottery grant. The tower's design was chosen by Portsmouth residents from a selection of three different designs in a 1998 public poll.[1] It has three viewing platforms one on top of the other at heights of 328 feet, 344 feet and 361 feet.
The tower was designed by local firm HGP Architects and engineering consultants Scott Wilson and built by Mowlem. The Spinnaker Tower reflects Portsmouth's maritime history through its design and is named after a spinnaker, a type of sail that balloons outward.[2] The tower was opened on 18 October 2005.
The tower is owned by Portsmouth City Council and is operationally managed by Continuum Leading Attractions, a cultural attractions group based in York. Continuum also runs five other visitor attractions across the country.
The Spinnaker Tower was repainted and rebranded as the "Emirates Spinnaker Tower" from July 2015 following a five-year commercial sponsorship deal with Dubai-based Emirates airline. The Emirates sponsorship deal expired in 2020 and the tower reverted to its original all-white paint scheme and name in April 2021.
Structure
At a height of 560 feet, the tower is one of the tallest accessible structures in the United Kingdom outside London. The tower is visible around Portsmouth, changing the horizon of the area. It can be seen from the Isle of Wight, the Manhood Peninsula, Highdown Gardens and Cissbury Ring in Worthing and Nine Barrow Down in the Purbeck Hills in Dorset.
The tower represents sails billowing in the wind, a design accomplished using two large, white, sweeping metal arcs, which give the tower its spinnaker sail design. The steelwork was fabricated by Butterley Engineering. At the top is a triple observation deck, providing a 360° view of the city of Portsmouth, the Langstone and Portsmouth harbours, and a viewing distance of 23 miles.
The highest of the three observation platforms, the Sky Deck, has only a wire mesh roof, so visitors are open to the elements. The windows extend above head height, so it is not possible to get a view unobstructed by glass. A glass floor is located on the first viewing deck at 328 feet above sea level. It has three viewing platforms one on top of the other at heights of 328 feet, 344 feet and 361 feet. The tower has a design lifetime of 80 years.[3]
History
Portsmouth's Millennium Tower, as it was originally intended to be named, was a project conceived in 1995 to design a monument to commemorate the Millennium celebrations in the year 2000.[4] It received National Lottery funding and was intended to open in late 1999.[5][6]
A choice of three different Millennium Tower designs were presented to the people of Portsmouth for a public poll in early 1998, won by the 'Spinnaker' design. The others resented were: 'Globe' (a multi-floor transparent observation globe) and 'Triple' (three towers in a narrow triangular formation, linked by trusses).[7]
Due to political, financial, contractual and construction problems and extra funding requests by the builders, construction did not begin until 2001 and was completed in mid-2005. Because of the six-year delay in opening and not having been ready for the Millennium as planned, the tower was renamed Spinnaker Tower instead, the design name it had been called in the 1998 public poll.
The project went far over budget, drew in taxpayers' money, which had not been intended, and caused at least one high-level political resignation, but eventually opened in 2005.
The Spinnaker Tower has suffered from a number of issues since opening, including a malfunctioning external glass lift.[8] During the final construction phase, a protester from the rights group Fathers 4 Justice scaled the tower wearing a high-visibility jacket and unfurling a banner in the process.[9] Another incident happened a year later when a base jumper managed to get past site security and jumped off the Tower; he quickly ran off site after parachuting down.[10]
The tower was opened on 18 October 2005. On the day, the tower's project manager, David Greenhalgh, and representatives of Mowlem and Maspero were stranded in its malfunctioning external lift (built by Maspero) for an hour and a half. Abseiling engineers were called to rescue them.[11][12] Some, including the franchise's chief executive, felt it was rather fitting that these particular people had been trapped.[13] The external lift was removed during December 2012.
Once open, the tower attracted crowds in excess of expectations, despite only the internal lift working, with more than 600,000 people visiting it in the first year.[14]
In June 2009, the tower's operators succeeded in gaining permission for a freefall ride to be attached.[15] It opened to the public in June 2018 and featured a bungee jump freefall into a crash net.
In 2006, the tower won the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors ‘Project of the Year’ award and the RICS Regeneration award.
Pictures
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View of the first deck and glass walkway. -
The Tower overlooking the harbour. -
The triangular staircase -
The view through the glass floor -
Rear view from ground level of the tower. -
Spinnaker Tower and harbour from the air -
Spinnaker Tower from the water -
Spinnaker Tower
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Outside links
- Spinnaker Tower (Heritage Projects Ltd)]
References
- ↑ "Nineteen years on - the story behind how the Spinnaker Tower design was chosen". https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/business/nineteen-years-story-behind-how-spinnaker-tower-design-was-chosen-1165084.
- ↑ "Spinnaker Tower Also known as Portsmouth Millenium Tower". Skyscraper News. 8 December 2012. http://www.skyscrapernews.com/buildings.php?id=406. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
- ↑ LUSAS, 4 November 2005. Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth. Retrieved 17 September 2006.
- ↑ Journey – http://wearejourney.co.uk.+"History and Construction – Emirates Spinnaker Tower". Spinnakertower.co.uk. https://www.spinnakertower.co.uk/about/history-and-construction/. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
- ↑ Payne, Stewart (2005-10-19). "Red faces over Portsmouth's showcase project, £12 million over budget and six years late". The Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1500966/Red-faces-over-Portsmouths-showcase-project-12-million-over-budget-and-six-years-late.html. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
- ↑ Journey – http://wearejourney.co.uk.+"History and Construction – Emirates Spinnaker Tower". Spinnakertower.co.uk. https://www.spinnakertower.co.uk/about/history-and-construction/. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
- ↑ "Nineteen years on – the story behind how the Spinnaker Tower design was chosen". https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/business/nineteen-years-story-behind-how-spinnaker-tower-design-was-chosen-1165084.
- ↑ Staff writers (20 May 2008). "City's troubled tower lift shuts". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/hampshire/7409772.stm. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
- ↑ Staff writers (30 December 2004). "Father's rights man scales tower". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/4136369.stm.
- ↑ Staff writers (12 August 2005). "Parachutist jumps from Spinnaker". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/4145808.stm.
- ↑ Staff writers (16 October 2005). "Troubled Spinnaker given blessing". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/4345534.stm. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
- ↑ Staff writers (18 October 2005). "Council boss trapped in Spinnaker". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/4351452.stm. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
- ↑ "Red faces over Portsmouth's showcase project". The Daily Telegraph (London). 19 October 2005. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1500966/Red-faces-over-Portsmouths-showcase-project-12-million-over-budget-and-six-years-late.html. Retrieved 28 April 2006.
- ↑ "Spinnaker Tower". Mott MacDonald. http://www.mottmac.com/projects/?id=39661. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
- ↑ "Spinnaker Tower freefall plan approved". Portsmouth News. 29 June 2009. http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/biz/Spinnaker-Tower-freefall-plan-approved.5406244.jp. Retrieved 21 June 2013.