It includes a glass viewing pod that slowly lifts a thin 162-metre mast.
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Twelve years in the making, the British Airways i360 is the brainchild of architect-entrepreneurs David Marks and Julia Barfield of Marks Barfield Architects, best known as the practice that conceived and designed the world-famous London Eye.
Marcella Whittingdale has been reading live news bulletins this morning from the top of the British Airways i360.
Rides last 20 minutes during the day and 30 minutes after 6pm and cost £15 for adults (£13.75 if booked online in advance) and £7.50 for children (£6.75 in advance).
The structure, called British Airways i360, is on the seafront – actually, it’s in the exact same place that the ruined West Pier was built 150 years ago – and you can see up to 26 miles of coastline from its curved-glass pod.
But Glynn Jones, chairman of the West Pier Trust, thought the “vertical pier in the sky” showed “the city is, once again, embracing and celebrating world-class, stunning architecture”.
The tower construction project is estimated at £46 million and will be the highest viewing platform in the country outside of London.
“British Airways i360 is a fantastic example of European cooperation”.
The brand new British Airways i360 observation tower opens to the public today.
British Airways is launching the world’s first vertical cable vehicle, which will offer passengers unprecedented, 360-degree views of the English seafront.
“We feel incredibly happy and proud on behalf of the hundreds, if not thousand, of people that worked to bring the project to reality”.
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“We are putting Brighton on the map and promoting the city around the globe”.
