5 July 2019 Constructure visited Brighton for our 2019 Summer Social. A ride on the British Airways I360 was our first stop, with great views over Brighton and beyond with a glass of bubbles in hand while chatting about the engineering that went into the tower. A stroll along the sea front followed where we found a good spot with sea views to enjoy a cold beverage on a lovely summers day. Next up was posh fish & chips and after, Constructure visited the Laines, taking in the rest of Brightons colourful sights.

Some interesting facts about the i360:

The foundations being 6.5 metres deep passed through the 6 metres of beach shingle/gravel into the chalk rock below, however every high tide the foundations are submerged for 2 hours each time, meaning the concrete had to be designed submerged in water.

7200 tonnes of gravel and chalk were removed form the site, replaced with 4150 tonnes of concrete and the tower weighing in at 1200 tonnes, a net relief of 1850 tonnes on the founding ground.

The tower is only 4.5m in diameter, with 3.9m structural diameter. At a height of 162 metres that’s a slenderness ratio of 1:41, the same ratio of the Shard being only 1:6

The tower structure itself is made from 17 steel tubes, ranging from 12 to 6 metres long and with thicknesses between 20 and 85mm, and were jacked into position

In a worst case wind scenario the tower could deflect up to 1 metre at the tip, though in normal service this is controlled using ’sloshing’ dampers.