The New West Pier: The i360

The i360

In 2006 the West Pier Trust stopped trying to salvage a lost past and turned its attention to the future. The latest proposal to gain the recommendation of the Trust is not for a pier but an for 'observation mast', which has a ring-shaped obseravtion 'pod', weighing in at 60 tonnes.

Taller than Blackpool Tower, Portsmouth's new Spinnaker Tower and the London Eye, the i-360 will give a panoramic view over land and sea of 25 miles.

The i-360 is the brainchild of architects David Marks and Julia Barfield, the husband and wife team who designed the London Eye, and will be entirely privately financed.

It will take two years to design and build, cost between £15-20 million, cost around £8 a go, and expects to pull in about half a million punters each year. And! it doesn't appear to need a large foreshore commercial development either side of the West Pier's current landward footprint to make it financially viable.

Could be a go-er!?

In October 2006 the i360 scheme was given planning permission from the city council. It's looking good.