The team who created the London Eye have come together once again on the Brighton shorefront in starting their preparations for the building of the Brighton i360. The tower will become the tallest visitor attraction outside London and has been designed by architects Marks Barfield.

This team is madeup of contractors Hollandia, Poma, Jacobs Engineering Group, MarksBarfield, JT Mackley and Hemsley Orrel Partnership to have a planning meeting at the Hilton Brighton Metropole in preparation for construction to start next week.

David Marks and Julia Barfield, creators of the Brighton i360 and the London Eye, said: “We have the opportunity to create something truly unique and of international renown here in Brighton and Hove. We are excited to be working again with this top team and we all look forward to seeing the opening of the attraction in summer 2016.”

The passenger pod of the i360 is around 18 metres in diameter and can hold around 200 people and will give the viewers a 360 degree panorama through the curved glass windows as it travels up from street level to 138 metres above sea level.



Holandia is the main contractor, they also built the structure of the London Eye and they’ll be responsible for building the main structure of the steel tower. The section of the tower (or cans) will be jacked up with the new cans being placed underneath until they’ve achieved the height of the tower. They chose to use this method of construction in order to create the tower in a less weather dependant manner as tall cranes would require.



Managing Director of Hollondia said: “We are very proud to be involved in such a project, following our successful partnership on the London Eye. We are excited to be reunited with the same team again to create another inspiring visitor attraction.”

JT Mackley will be first to start in the project by carrying out the ground-works as well as building the i360 conference centre. The firm were founded in 1926 and are based just outside Brighton and have a long history of coastal and seafront construction.

Managing Director of JT Mackley Tony Camilleri said: “We are very much looking forward to bringing our local knowledge and coastal experience to the project and to working with this international team on what will become a world famous landmark.”

The attraction will be run by Brighton i360 Ltd, who’s CEO is tourism expert Eleanor Harris.