British Airways i360 - world's tallest moving observation tower opens to the public

Groups of up to 200 visitors will be able to glide up gently to a height of 138-metres in a futuristic, fully enclosed, hand-crafted glass viewing pod to admire breath-taking 360-degree views across Brighton, the South Downs and the beautiful south coast.

 

Coast to Capital LEP was one of the key funding partners for the project, contributing £4million through its Growing Places Fund.

 

Jonathan Sharrock, Coast to Capital Chief Executive said: "It's fantastic to finally see the i360 tower completed. This will be a great visitor attraction for Brighton & Hove and a real boost to the local economy, as well as being a generator of jobs and regenerating this part of the city."

 

'Flights' on British Airways i360 will last 20 minutes during the day and 30 minutes after 6pm. Tickets cost from £13.50 for adults and from £6.75 for children, with under 4s free.

Twelve years in the making, 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.

 

Architect and British Airways i360 chairman David Marks said: "Built at the landward end of Brighton's historic West Pier, British Airways i360 is a modern day 'vertical pier' that gives a new perspective on the city. Just as the West Pier invited Victorian society to 'walk on water'; so British Airways i360 invites visitors to 'walk on air'."

 

"The glass viewing pod, ten times the size of a London Eye capsule and capable of carrying up to 200 passengers, will slowly rise up a slender steel tower to a height of 450 feet to provide passengers with stunning views of Brighton and Hove and a beautiful panorama of the south coast and English Channel."

 

Tickets can be booked at BritishAirwaysi360.com.