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BT Tower

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Architecture

   BT Tower from the Euston Road, looking south.
   Enlarge
   BT Tower from the Euston Road, looking south.

   The BT Tower in London, England, previously the Post Office Tower and
   also the London Telecom Tower, is a tall cylindrical building at 60
   Cleveland Street in Fitzrovia. The main structure is 175 metres (574
   feet) tall, with a further section of aerial bringing the total height
   to 188 metres (620 feet).

History of the Post Office Tower

   The tower was commissioned by the General Post Office (GPO). Its
   primary purpose was to support the microwave aerials then used to carry
   telecommunications traffic from London to the rest of the country.

   The tower was designed by the architects of the Ministry of Public
   Building and Works: the chief architects were Eric Bedford and G. R.
   Yeats. Typical for its time, the building is concrete clad in glass.
   The narrow cylindrical shape was chosen because of the requirements of
   the communications aerials: the building will shift no more than 25 cm
   (10 inches) in wind speeds of up to 150 km/h (95 mph). Initially the
   first sixteen floors were for technical equipment and power, above that
   was a 35 metre section for the microwave aerials, and above that were
   six floors of suites, kitchens, technical equipment and finally a
   gridwork aerial. To prevent heat build-up the glass cladding was of a
   special tint. The construction cost was £2.5 million.

   Construction began in June 1961. The tower was topped out on July 15,
   1964 and it was operational from October 8, 1965. The building
   contractors were Peter Lind & Company.

   The tower was officially opened to the public on May 16, 1966 by Tony
   Benn and Billy Butlin. As well as the communications gear and office
   space there were viewing galleries, a souvenir shop, and a slowly
   rotating restaurant, the "Top of the Tower", on the 34th floor,
   operated by Butlins. It made one revolution every 22 minutes. An annual
   race up the stairs of the tower was established and the first race was
   won by UCL student Alan Green.

   A suspected IRA bomb exploded in the roof of the men's toilets at the
   Top of the Tower on October 31, 1971 and it was subsequently closed to
   the public for security reasons. The restaurant closed in 1980 when
   Butlins' lease expired and non-BT-approved access to the building
   ceased. In 1981 it was superseded as the tallest building in Britain by
   the NatWest Tower (renamed Tower 42).

The London BT Tower today

   The tower seen from its base
   Enlarge
   The tower seen from its base
   The tower at night
   Enlarge
   The tower at night

   When the GPO telecommunications services were split off in 1981 (in
   advance of the 1984 privatisation) the tower was renamed the London
   Telecom Tower. After the rebranding of the company in 1992 it became
   the BT Tower. The building is still not open to the public. The
   restaurant has been re-opened, and is now used by BT for corporate
   sponsorship events and promotions: since the re-discovery of spare
   parts for the mechanism, they even rotate it occasionally. Occasional
   broadcasts are made from the top of the tower, including BBC Radio 1 DJ
   Chris Moyles on his birthday, 22 February 2006.

   The tower is still in use, and is the site of a major UK communications
   hub. Fibre optic links have replaced microwave links for most
   mainstream purposes, but the tower is still used for microwave links.
   The base of the tower contains the TV Network Switching Centre which
   carries broadcasting traffic and relays signals used by the BBC and
   other television broadcasters.

   A renovation in the 2000s installed coloured lighting projecting onto a
   new 360-degree light panel, extending out from the old light boxes,
   bearing the company logo, as part of BT's 'connected world' corporate
   styling. Seven colours are programmed to vary constantly at night and
   are intended to appear as a rotating globe. The success of this is
   debatable but the building's night appearance is now more distinctive.
   The tower has always been a useful late-night navigational beacon for
   nearby residents, especially the numerous university halls within
   walking distance.

   Until the mid 1990s, the building was officially a secret, and did not
   appear on official maps. Indeed, even by taking a photo of it you were
   breaking the Official Secrets Act. Its existence was finally
   "confirmed" by Kate Hoey, MP, on 19 February 1993: "Hon. Members have
   given examples of seemingly trivial information that remains officially
   secret. An example that has not been mentioned, but which is so trivial
   that it is worth mentioning, is the absence of the British Telecom
   tower from Ordnance Survey maps. I hope that I am covered by
   parliamentary privilege when I reveal that the British Telecom tower
   does exist and that its address is 60 Cleveland Street, London."

   The BT Tower was given grade II listed building status in 2003. Some of
   the Antennae on the building are no longer used, however because the
   building is listed, they cannot be removed, as it would alter the
   features of the building.

   Entry to the building is provided by two high-speed lifts which travel
   at 6 metres per second, reaching the top of the building in 30 seconds.
   Interestingly, due to the high-speed of the lifts, an Act of Parliament
   was passed to vary fire regulations, allowing the building to be
   evacuated by using the lifts - it is the only building in the country
   to hold this status.

Appearances in fiction

     * Large portions of the 1966 Doctor Who serial The War Machines were
       set in the tower.
     * In the 1967 film Smashing Time it appeared to spin out of control
       and short-circuit the whole of London's power supply.
     * The tower is featured in the most famous scene in The Goodies when
       it is toppled over by Twinkle the Giant Kitten in the episode
       Kitten Kong.
     * The tower is destroyed through sabotage in Alan Moore's graphic
       novel V for Vendetta. It's also featured in the film adaptation
       with the name Jordan Tower albeit it's not destroyed. According to
       the novelization, the tower is headquarters for both the BTN and
       the "Eye", the visual surveillance division of the government.
     * The tower is destroyed in the James Herbert novel The Fog by a
       Boeing 747 whose captain has been driven mad by fog.
     * The design of the starship HMS Camden Lock from the BBC 2 science
       fiction sitcom Hyperdrive is based on the tower.
     * In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Harry is spotted flying
       over the tower in a Ford Anglia with his friend, Ron Weasley.
     * It appears on the cover of Saturday by Ian McEwan.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BT_Tower"
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