Brighton’s i360 faces an uncertain future
Protests and the pandemic pose problems for the project
The sponsorship by British Airways of the i360 observation tower in Brighton is a vexed issue for human rights activists.
Last summer, a group of protestors staged a demonstration at the base of the structure on the seafront to highlight BA’s involvement in deportations. The banners read: “Black Lives Matter’, “Bigot Airways”, and “Hypocrites, Stop Deportation”.
Green Councillor Tom Druitt is chair of the i360 member working group. When I interviewed him on my Radio Reverb show, I asked him about the sponsorship deal.
He said: “The legal arrangement between the council and the current i360 operating company doesn’t give the council any say as to who the sponsor is. However, if, in the future, there were a different operating company, that’s something the council could incorporate in a contract. I’d be very interested for us to at least have a veto if the chosen sponsor wasn’t really compatible with the vision that we want our city to portray.”
Whatever the future might bring, history buffs will be interested to know that a version of the controversy-plagued project almost saw the light of day 60 years ago.
In April 1964, a Toronto-based company, calling itself Skydeck International, wrote to officers at Brighton Borough Council outlining is proposal for an observation tower, 700 feet high, between the Palace Pier and the West Pier. A concrete access bridge 300 feet long would connect the tower to the promenade and the base was to include a “Marine Land” feature where “porpoises, seals, etc” would perform.
“This will not in any way compete with the corporation’s Aquarium,” the plan stated. “It will be in the open air.” Hmm.
Three concrete shafts would contain lifts to transport the estimated 1,500 visitors an hour up to the observation deck. Each deck would feature separate catering facilities, revolving at the rate of 360 degrees an hour. Each would hold about 500 people at a time and would also feature shops (“At least one of these will specialise in the sale of Canadian products”) while field glasses would be provided to help people spot the English Channel and, no doubt, the activities of residents in Sussex Heights, then under construction along the road. Above the decks a slim mast would rise to 1,000 feet to provide improved TV and radio reception to the area.
“It is the intention of the company that both the interior and exterior of Skydeck will be architecturally modern, interesting, and dramatic and also that the highest standards of both catering and cleanliness will be maintained throughout,” the plan’s author’s concluded.
The scheme was the brainchild of Captain Raymond Phillips, Charles Smith-Bingham and John Bickford-Smith. A Pathe newsreel shows the three men gathered in of of their homes to discuss the project. The attraction was estimated to cost around £1.5 million in 1964 - that’s around £30 million in today’s prices.
What could possibly go wrong?
The stumbling block was, as ever, money. The corporation did not want to put a ceiling on the amount of rent it could charge. The developers thought it should.
Mr Harman Hunt, the chartered surveyor acting for Skydeck International, wrote to the authority in 1964 to say: “On your proposals, our clients are to be liable for a rental of £4,000 per annum, even though the enterprise might be making a loss. In other words, your council wish to share in the prosperity to a substantial extent and are not prepared to share in the burden in bad times.”
The council told the developer it could “take it or leave it”. By 1968, the proposal was dormant.
Customers aboard the i360 may think they can spot a large slice of deja vu from their vantage point.
Artist’s impression of Brighton Skydeck, courtesy of The Keep