Eleanor Harris: An Eye On British Airways i360

Presenting the many benefits of the
beach building

Now that the slender i360 tower has been built, our attention has moved to creating the beach building. We have already completed the concrete base and over the next few weeks you will see the support columns going up, which will give a real sense of the building’s shape and size.
It will be a single storey structure, which will largely be hidden below Kings Road on the beach. The main structures that will be visible are two beautifully restored 1866 West Pier toll booths sitting on the ‘roof’; one of which will be our ticket office and the other heritage tea rooms.
Customers will board their ride at this upper level and then exit the glass pod at the lower level through our beach building. The beach building will be publicly accessible and open to the general public as well as those people paying to ride on the i360.
We have designed the space to create a real hub for residents as well as tourists to enjoy year round. Inside you will be able to pop in to use our toilet or baby changing facilities, have breakfast lunch or dinner in our brasserie, buy a souvenir in our shop, visit our exhibition or else take your kids to play in our indoor play zone.

We are lucky enough to have fabulous beach-side hospitality rooms with sea views and a private beach terrace where you can celebrate, get married or hold a conference for between 10 and 1,000 people. The glass pod will also be licensed for weddings.
Event enquiries are already pouring in, and we are seeing a trend for conference organisers to book their main conference in one of the larger Brighton venues and hold their party at the i360, and we therefore are collaborating with other venues to win new business for the city.
The beach building is therefore an important aspect of our business plan, as it delivers a number of different year-round revenue streams. We also hope it becomes a space that locals can visit and enjoy for many years to come.
Twitter: @TheBrightoni360 @Eleanor_Harris, Facebook: Brighton-i360, Pinterest: Brightoni360, www.brightoni360.co.uk