Portsmouth - Spinnaker Tower - Harbour at night - Salmon postcard

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  Portsmouth, Hampshire - Spinnaker Tower in the harbour at night
• Publisher:  J Salmon (2-58-04-74)
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

Please ask if you need any other information and I will do the best I can to answer.

------------------------------------------------

Postage & Packing:

UK (incl. IOM, CI & BFPO): 99p

Europe: £1.60

Rest of world (inc. USA etc): £2.75

No additional charges for more than one postcard. You can buy as many postcards from me as you like and you will just pay the fee above once. (If buying postcards with other things such as books, please contact or wait for invoice before paying).

Payment Methods:

UK - PayPal, Cheque (from UK bank) or postal order

Outside UK: PayPal ONLY (unless otherwise stated) please.   NO non-UK currency checks or money orders (sorry).

NOTE: All postcards are sent in brand new stiffened envelopes which I have bought for the task. These are specially made to protect postcards and you may be able to re-use them. In addition there are other costs to sending so the above charge is not just for the stamp!

I will give a full refund if you are not fully satisfied with the postcard.

----------------------------------------------

Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

*************

Spinnaker Tower is a 170-metre (560 ft) landmark tower in Portsmouth, England, UK. It is the centrepiece of the redevelopment of Portsmouth Harbour, which was supported by a National Lottery grant. Its shape was chosen by Portsmouth residents from a selection. The tower, designed by local firm HGP Architects and the engineering consultants Scott Wilson and built by Mowlem,^[5] reflects Portsmouth's maritime history by its being modelled after a sail. The tower was opened on 18 October 2005.

The tower is owned by Portsmouth City Council, but operationally managed by Continuum Leading Attractions, a cultural attractions group based in York. Continuum also run five other visitor attractions across the country.

The tower, at a height of 170 m above sea level, is 2 ¹/₂ times as high as Nelson's Column, making it the tallest accessible structure in the United Kingdom outside London. The tower is visible for miles around Portsmouth, changing the horizon of the area. It can be seen from the Isle of Wight, and even the Manhood Peninsula.

The tower represents sails billowing in the wind, a design accomplished using two large, white, sweeping steel arcs, which give the tower its spinnaker sail design. The steelwork was fabricated by Butterley Engineering. At the top is a triple observation deck, providing a 350° view of the city of Portsmouth, the Langstone and Portsmouth harbours, and a viewing distance of 37 kilometres (23 mi). The highest of the three observation platforms, the crow's nest, has a wire mesh roof, allowing visitors to be in the elements. Windows extend to above head height, so it is not possible to get a view unobstructed by glass. The glass floor is the largest in Europe. The tower has a design lifetime of 80 years.^[6]

The design is similar to the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, whose structure is a little less than twice as tall at 323 metres (1,060 ft).

Planning began in 2000, and construction began 2001, and was completed in mid-2005, due to repeated delays and extra funding requests by the builders Mowlem. This was six years later than the planned opening date of 1999, chosen to coincide with Millennium celebrations. The tower, originally called Portsmouth Millennium Tower, was renamed Spinnaker Tower.

The project was over budget, with an overall cost of £35.6 million for the tower alone. Taxpayers were not meant to fund the tower, but Portsmouth City Council eventually contributed £11.1 million towards construction.

In March 2004, Portsmouth Council's former leader Cllr Leo Madden resigned from leading the Labour Group on the Council after a highly critical report of the council's handling of the project and failure to exploit revenue opportunities, such as the Millennium. Barry Smith, the project's legal advisor, also retired after being suspended on full pay,^[7] mostly due to controversy over the contract with the builders, which at one point would have cost the council more to cancel than to complete.

The tower has had a number of issues since opening, including a malfunctioning external glass lift.^[8] During the late construction a protester from the rights group Fathers 4 Justice scaled the tower wearing a high-visibility jacket unfurling a banner in the process.^[9] Another incident happened a year later when a base jumper managed to get past site security and base jump off the Spinnaker Tower, he quickly ran off site after parachuting down.^[10]

The tower was dedicated on 16 October 2005 and opened two days later. On opening day, the Tower's project manager, David Greenhalgh, and representatives for Mowlem and Maspero were stranded in the tower's malfunctioning external lift (built by Maspero) for an hour and a half. Abseiling engineers were called to rescue them.^[11][12][13] Some, including the franchise's chief executive, felt it was rather fitting that these particular people were trapped.^[14] The external lift is currently in the process of being removed (December 2012).

Once open, the tower attracted crowds in excess of expectations, despite only the internal lift working since opening, with over 600,000 people visiting the tower in the first year.^[15] It is one of a number of observation towers around the world that have become popular, including Vancouver's Harbour Centre, Toronto's CN Tower, Blackpool's Tower and Shanghai's Oriental Pearl Tower.

In June 2006, the local press raised a concern that the tower may be forced to close. All public buildings in the UK require disabled access under the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act. With the external lift inoperative and only the internal lift for disabled access, the tower did not meet this requirement, and the tower operators could be sued under the act.^[16] This problem was rectified by investing in an evacuation chair, and training for staff to use it. In the event of evacuation, should the internal lift be inoperable, those unable to navigate the 570 steps can use the evacuation chair.

The Spinnaker, being a southern landmark, features on the BBC South Today news programme. It also features on ITV News.

In June 2009, Tower operators succeeded in gaining permission for a free fall ride to be attached to the Tower.^[17] As of 2011 this has only been a plan.

In 2006, the tower won the RICS Project of the year award and the RICS Regeneration award.^[18]

type=printed postcards

theme=topographical: british

sub-theme=england

county/ country=hampshire

number of items=single

period=1945 - present

postage condition=unposted