About

Experience the south coast’s most Uplifting view. Spinnaker Tower stands at 170 metres tall, offering breath-taking 23 mile views over Portsmouth Harbour, the city, the Solent, the South Downs and the Isle of Wight. The iconic destination boasts a high speed lift and three sky-high viewing decks. Venture across the thrilling glass ‘Sky Walk’ at 100 metres above sea level; discover stories behind the surrounding sites with informative touch screen displays; breath in the view from the open air ‘Sky Garden’; book in for a High Tea in The Clouds; and enjoy delicious meals made with locally sourced ingredients in the Spinnaker Kitchen and Bar. Thrill seekers can book on to one of the Tower’s popular 100 metre abseil days. Spinnaker Tower also makes a stunning venue for private events, corporate functions and weddings.

This unique building holds many fascinating stories. Learn about our history & construction, find out how and why we light the tower and read about the wider Continuum Attractions group that we are part of.

Spinnaker Tower was built as part of the centrepiece of the Renaissance of Portsmouth Harbour Project and has become Portsmouth’s most prominent landmark. Visible beyond 23 miles away; it dramatically overlooks the Portsmouth harbour, Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, City centre and all of Portsmouth and its neighbouring towns and suburbs.

Fact File:

The Tower has been a huge success and has received over 5 million visitors since opening.
The high speed internal lift travels at 4 metres per second, taking you to the View Decks in just 30 seconds.
The concrete used to build the Tower would fill five-and-a-half Olympic-sized swimming pools.
The Tower is founded on 84 piles, the longest of which runs 50m into the ground – the equivalent of Nelson’s Column.
The total weight of the Tower exceeds 30,000 tonnes.
The 27m spire weighs 14 tonnes and was carefully lifted into place by crane.
1200 tonnes of structural steel used to form the Tower’s distinctive bows is the equivalent weight of 12 blue whales.
115 metres up and in high winds, the Tower can flex approximately 150mm.
There are 560 steps from the base up to View Deck 3, the Sky Deck.

A prestigious Millennium Project, the proposal for the “Millennium Tower” was approved by the Millennium Commission in September 1995. Later that year, Portsmouth City Council published a development brief outlining the broad requirements.

The concept was to create a public and educational facility to celebrate the new Millennium. Public exhibitions and a special edition of Portsmouth City Council’s magazine, Flagship revealed the three design proposals for the City residents to choose from; the Globe, the Spinnaker and the Triple Tower. 60% of people voted for the Spinnaker Tower hence it became the chosen design, reflecting Portsmouth’s unique maritime heritage.

Political, financial, contractual and construction problems delayed the project, and construction of this striking structure actually commenced in November 2001. It wasn’t plain sailing and there were many challenges for the highly dedicated and professional teams of architects, designers, engineers, builders and operators. However, to much acclaim, the Tower finally opened in October 2005.

September

1995

A proposal for a ‘Millennium Tower’ was approved by the Millennium Commission. The Tower’s structural engineering is extremely complex, its complicated shape and design required many mind bending geometric calculations. Not least, before the Tower was built, the space it occupies now was simply sea!