It was meant to be Brighton’s answer to the London Eye. A 162-metre tall “vertical pier” perched on the seafront, the Brighton i360 was designed to pull in hundreds of thousands of visitors a year, offering panoramic views of the Sussex coastline and the bustling seaside city.
But eight years after opening, and saddled with £51m in debt, Brighton i360 has filed for administration, with the observation tower facing closure if it cannot find a buyer.
In a statement explaining the move, Brighton i360 Ltd blamed escalating costs, bad summer weather and the cost-of-living crisis, “which have collectively led to a significant decline in consumer spending across the UK”.
The company said the tower, which opened in 2016, will remain open as it files for insolvency and begins the search for a buyer.
Charlie Carter, associate director at the management consultant Interpath, who is leading the sales process, said: “The Brighton i360 has become an iconic visitor attraction, welcoming hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, but unfortunately is now at real risk of closure unless a buyer can be found.”
Concerns over the i360’s financing have boiled over after years of trouble. The project was initially intended to be privately funded when planning permission was granted in 2006, but the financial crash two years later led the investors – fronted by the architect, Marks Barfield – to ask the council for a loan to help fund development.
Keen to support the building, councillors agreed to take out a £36.2m loan from the public works loan board, a government funding agency that made loans available to building projects at the time. Local people campaigned against the tower and the public loan.
Since opening, poor visitor numbers have meant Brighton i360 Ltd has struggled to repay its debt to the council. In 2022, the company asked councillors to consider new terms for the loan – a restructure that meant the council would take nearly all the profits from the Brighton i360. Schemes to boost visitors have proved unsuccessful, and the tower has finally run out options.
One consultancy firm estimated that about 347,000 people would need to visit each year for the loan to be paid back to the council.
Between 2016 and 2023, 1,878,000 people visited the i360 – averaging about 268,429 visitors a year.
“Today is a day of shame for the Green party and a sad day for Brighton and Hove,” said the leader of the Labour-run Brighton and Hove city council, Bella Sankey. “Their calamitous decision to loan a vast sum of public money to this failed business venture has left the residents of Brighton and Hove £51m out of pocket.
“This will be their enduring legacy to the city – a huge debt that will be left to generations of residents to repay. Our council must now repay their folly amounting to over £2m each year for the foreseeable future – money that could’ve been spent on nurseries, play areas, public toilets, preventing homelessness, road repairs, transitioning to net zero and dozens of other vital local services.”
A Green party councillor, Steve Davis, said it was a “sad day for our city and our thoughts go out to the staff at the i360 especially, who now face uncertainty about their future”.
“The i360’s history spans nearly two decades across both Green and Labour administrations,” he said. “Alongside the i360 came a huge amount of regeneration for a long-neglected part of the city, the benefits of which are still being felt today, and there is collective responsibility for both the positives and downsides to this investment in our city.”
The amount currently owed to the council by Brighton i360 Ltd is £51m, but the actual loss to the council – relating to loan debt and interest repayable to government – stands at about £32m, the council said.
The i360 was seen as a British attempt at the “Bilbao effect” – the idea of using showy architectural constructions to attract visitors and revitalise urban areas. The term was inspired by the successful effect that building Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim had on Bilbao in Spain.
Initially sponsored by British Airways, the i360 followed The Public art gallery in West Bromwich, the Magna Science Adventure Centre in Rotherham and the London Eye – which had also been designed by Marks Barfield – in trying to breathe new life into areas.
The Brighton and Hove councillor and cabinet member for finance, Jacob Taylor, said: “It is extremely disappointing that the Brighton i360 is filing for administration. This leaves a large unpaid amount to the city council, which will have an impact on the overall budget.
“I think it is important that the council and the city reflect on the decisions that have led us to this point – and learn lessons for the future.”
