Brighton i360Newsletter - Issue 9 - April 1st 2015

Steven and Josh will both join us, collaborating with Centerplate, the venue caterer, to serve the best Sussex produce at Brighton i360’s brasserie when it opens next year.

Speaking after the press announcement, an enthusiastic Mr Edwards said: “Josh and I are really looking forward to working with this amazing new venue.

“We are Sussex chefs through and through and will always use quality local ingredients to create unique simple dishes focusing on getting the most out of each ingredient we use.

“We will serve the superb ingredients that are reared, grown, caught and brewed within the 26 mile viewing radius that you can see from the i360”.

Making good progressWe have now finished forming the

Welcome to the 9th project newsletter for the Brighton i360.

Sussex chef announcedThe big news last month was the announcement of our new chef: previous MasterChef: The Professionals winner, Steven Edwards.

Steven, also winner of the Sussex Food and Drinks Award Young Chef of the Year, carved a name for him-self at the prestigious South Lodge before starting up his own company - etch - with fellow chef Josh Stanzl.

deep foundations. The piling rig has left the site and we are now working on the concrete capping beam that sits on top. Towards the end of the month we will start to move the shingle from the site onto the beach. The tower cans are due to arrive by barge this June and the cans and crane will sit on a beach platform directly in front of our site.

A month in the public eyeDavid Marks, the architect appeared on BBC South East from the factory in Rotterdam (more about this on page 2). ITV Meridian, Latest TV and BBC Sussex Radio reported from our site. Our chef was interviewed on Juice FM and on BBC Sussex. We also appeared in the Argus and Brighton and Hove Independent, as well as the catering press.

The stainless steel abseil rail will be fitted on top of the upper-most can at the top of the tower. This allows our engineers to evacuate safely.

A lot of people are curious about how we will fit the first can into the ground. This is how!

The picture shows the anchor bolt frame that is pre-assembled in Holland. It will be cast into the main foundation ready for us to bolt the first tower can down.

The bar across is a temporary jig for centring the can to enable accurate setting out for the various cleats which will be welded inside the can to support ladders, platforms, counterweight guide rails, dampers, cable trays and everything else that needs to be supported inside.

The bolt holes have been drilled using CNC boring machines. The cans here look a rusty colour because they have not yet gone through the cleaning and painting process.

The red bull-wheel is part of the ride mechanism for our vertical cable car. It is being lowered into the counterweight where it will carry the steel rope which will lift and lower the pod.

Everything needs to be welded into place in Rotterdam, while the cans are in a factory-controlled environment. The team were busy working on the counterweight guide rails which will be fixed inside the cans and will guide the counterweight up and down.

The silver painted cans are almost ready for the jour-ney to Brighton. These will have cladding attached around the outside when they arrive in the UK.

It’s in the can!David Marks recently travelled to the Hollandia factory in Holland. BBC South East accompanied him, giving us incredible insight into the progress being made on the 17 tower cans. If you missed it, catch it on our YouTube channel: ‘Brighton i360’.

Debunking the funding mythsLast month marked the one year anniversary of our funding agreement with Brighton and Hove City Council and the start of our Public-Private Partnership. We still find that people are confused by the funding structure – one of the most common misconceptions still is that council tax has been used, which is not the case.

The project is costing £46m with £6m coming from our management team, £4m from a loan from the Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership and £36m from a loan from the Public Works Loan Board (PWLB). The Council has acted as a ‘middle man’ borrowing the money from the PWLB at a very low interest rate just above the Bank of England base rate and they in turn lend it to the i360 at a commercial rate. This difference between the interest rate they borrow at and the interest they lend the money to us at will earn the Council £1m per year. In addition, we are paying the council 1% of our ticket revenues.

The criteria for PWLB is very strict and it can only be spent on projects with a commercial return. It can therefore not be spent on funding essential services such as social care, children’s centres, schools or fixing our roads. The money earned from the i360 loan can however be spent on these services at a time of cuts. If the money had not been won for the Brighton i360, then it would have gone to another city.

We are very confident in our business plan, but also have a large buffer of over 50% built in before there is any risk to the tax payer. The Council puts huge value in the economic benefit the i360 will bring the city in terms of job creation; bringing additional visitors to the city who will spend money in the many businesses that rely on tourists; helping keep Brighton and Hove competitive as a conference destination; and regenerating the western part of the seafront – the city’s “shop window”.

Making the most of local talent

Along with our new chef, we have recruited two new members of our office team: Pippa Atkinson and Richard Morris.

Pippa, previously from Juice FM, is the i360’s Sales Manager. Pippa works closely with local businesses to forge partnerships across the city, as well as building relationships within the group market and travel trade. She will also be working on our corporate events offering.

Richard is our Social Media & Digital Marketing Executive. Richard looks after our Facebook and Twitter pages and writes our blog; he will also be busy writing our new web site, coming soon. Richard is a Brighton-based Albion supporter and an award winning journalist who has worked for an array of Sussex newspapers, most recently the Brighton and Hove Independent.

Keep up to date with our news!Our webcam footage is live on the homepage of the Argus http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/i360_brighton/

For more insight into our progress and plans, you can sign up to our monthly newsletter via our website: http://www.brightoni360.co.uk/mailing-list.html

We also regularly update our blog and social media channels - our Facebook followers increased from 1,100 to 2,852 in March, while our Twitter audience continues to grow steadily.

Folllow us online at:

@thebrightoni360

Brighton-i360

http://brightoni360.co.uk

brighton-i360

Brighton i360

The London Eye is a shining example of how good, well crafted modern design can blend old with new. The i360 promises to achieve the same. Simple and elegant in design, we will rise above the city.Robert Haddock

This month we celebrated the 15th anniversary of the London Eye – designed by the team behind the Brighton i360 and still the UK’s most-visit paid for tourist attraction. We spoke to David Marks about the inspiration behind the tower:

“Anyone who has been on the London Eye remembers it as an incredible experience. Ever since the completion of the London Eye, people have been asking us to replicate it elsewhere. We wanted to create a similar sort of visitor experience with a view that slowly unfolds as you gradually ascend, but with an enhanced more spacious pod enabling guests to walk around to enjoy the 360 degree views.”

Read the whole interview on our blog

Why are you excited about the i360?To celebrate the London Eye’s 15th birthday we ran a competition - tell us why you are excited about the Brighton i360 and you could win a pair of London Eye tickets. Here are some of our favourites.

“i spy with my little i…Brighton Bold. Bright n Beautiful. Innovation and vision, imagination for the modern day Brighton, just like the piers, Pavilion and Aquarium when those ideas were conceived. From the ashes of the West Pier, a phoenix will rise.”Dean Fennemore

Brighton deserves a masterpiece of modern architecture like the London Eye.Tina Ledford

It will be amazing to see it from that high up. I’ve done huge projects on Brighton and the Regency period in a few of my lessons, so it will be so interesting to be to see the buildings, especially the Pavilion, from a whole new angle.Ella Smith

Think of the first proposal! Exciting times! Michael Sullivan:

The i360 is set to become the signature of Brighton, an iconic demonstration of the spirit of Brighton. As you drive along the seafront by day, or night it will have a wow factor as big as the Eiffel Tower.Pete Newsholme

People have been visiting piers for over 100 years to enjoy wonderful views of the coast. So it’s fitting that the i360 – on the same site as Brighton’s beloved old West Pier – will enable this generation to do exactly the same.Andy Pike

We’re getting involved!We are offering a fantastic opportunity to join David Marks, one of the architects behind Brighton’s most innovative project, for a talk and tour of the i360 site as part of this year’s Fringe.

Find out why David and the team chose to build the world’s tallest moving observation tower in Brighton, and what engineering challenges the team have faced in the design and construction of such a slender tower.

Tickets are £10, which includes a coffee at Alfresco, during the talk, and a tour of the site. Tours run at 9am and 10.30am on 21st May.

Buy tickets on the Brighton Fringe website: http://boxoffice.brightonfringe.org/tours/12631/brighton-i360--exclusive-tour-and-talk-with-the-architect