Visiting Portsmouth over the weekend we sat beneath the Spinnaker Tower and had coffee. It certainly is a remarkable construction, completed in 2005, having been taken a year to plan and four to build. It is 560 feet high and can be seen from miles and miles away. From the top of it (apparently, I didn’t go up, way to high for me!) you can see for 23 miles!
It’s web-site include some amazing facts about it, including:
- there have been over 2 million visitors since it opened
- the internal lift travels at 4 metres per second (yikes!)
- its built on 84 piles, which go down into the ground – the longest is 164 feet into the ground
- its weight is more than 30,000 tonnes.
- the spire is 27 metres tall and weighs 14 tonnes
- in high winds it can flex by nearly 7 inches
- there are 570 steps from the base up to View Deck 3, which is called the Sky Deck… good grief!
http://www.spinnakertower.co.uk/
Lois Elsden 