BT Tower being sold off to US hotel chain!

[nlogax]

Good to see it getting a new lease of life, although chances are rooms will be at least £200+ a night so out of reach for many.

At least double that.

 

[Buzby]

I believe switching is no longer the exclusive domain of BT anymore. I came across an early morning tone and bars that proclaimed “ITV Hub - Slough”. From memory, there was never an ITV network hub in the town, but after buying up much of the transmission network, Arquvia (sp?) would clearly manage their own feeds - taking in C&W/Mercury who boasted of their backbone up the Grand Union Canal towpath to ‘the North’ so it makes sense to wind down a system that was primarily analogue and due for full digitisatio.

At least double that

And probably in the old Telephone Exchange building, not the Tower itself!

 

[thomalex]

I think the revolving restaurant doesn't work anymore ( apart from the restaurant is closed) is that the IRA blew it up and the mechanism doesn't work anymore.

It certainly does. It's often hired out for corporate events and if you look closely you can see it slowly moving when in use.

 

[sor]

I believe switching is no longer the exclusive domain of BT anymore. I came across an early morning tone and bars that proclaimed “ITV Hub - Slough”. From memory, there was never an ITV network hub in the town, but after buying up much of the transmission network, Arquvia (sp?) would clearly manage their own feeds - taking in C&W/Mercury who boasted of their backbone up the Grand Union Canal towpath to ‘the North’ so it makes sense to wind down a system that was primarily analogue and due for full digitisatio.


And probably in the old Telephone Exchange building, not the Tower itself!

Slough is however a major site for IP connectivity and data centre space, and so much of modern broadcasting is just servers and video over IP

Unless the supplier has changed again in the last few years, ITV's internal distribution network is provided by BT - https://the-media-leader.com/bt-set-to-provide-itv-with-new-broadcast-network/

There's also a much more recent deal with ITV and Channel 4 to handle their Freeview encoding/distribution needs as well. Of course Arqiva own the transmitters but their customers (the broadcasters) can feed them however they want.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

And probably in the old Telephone Exchange building, not the Tower itself!

About 20 years ago the London Hilton was charging in the region of £800 a night for the Park Lane Suite ( i.e. high up in their tower, one floor below the Presidential Suite ), so given we are 20 years on from then and the BT Tower is more centrally located, is somewhat higher and would be much more exclusive, I'd expect any room installed in the BT Tower itself would likely be around £2500 a night...

Rooms in the old exchange building would likely be around £500 a night at least - if not more.

 

[Ediswan]

It was built to carry microwave dishes* in the days when that was a more economical way to carry TV and telephone traffic than digging up the streets to lay copper wires. Fibre optics have changed all that, of course.

Originally built for 'horn' antennas. These were later replaced with the more compact dishes.

 

[Busaholic]

About 20 years ago the London Hilton was charging in the region of £800 a night for the Park Lane Suite ( i.e. high up in their tower, one floor below the Presidential Suite ), so given we are 20 years on from then and the BT Tower is more centrally located, is somewhat higher and would be much more exclusive, I'd expect any room installed in the BT Tower itself would likely be around £2500 a night...

Rooms in the old exchange building would likely be around £500 a night at least - if not more.

I think you're probably nearer the mark, but there'll be plenty of discounts, offers and other inducements meaning only a proportion of the clientele at any time will be paying top whack.

 

[Buzby]

I still don’t think a pokey room, next to the lifts with a good view IN the Tower would be worth £2.5k (now, if if spun round - I might reconsider)

 

[simonw]

My understanding is there are no stairs in the tower, only lifts, due to the limited space. I would expect this will impact on any plans to convert the tower itself into bedrooms.

 

[jon81uk]

The TWA Hotel at JFK seems to start around $350 a night so £250 wouldn't be unusual.

 

[Buzby]

My understanding is there are no stairs in the tower, only lifts

Think again - there have been multiple charity runs up and down the stairs - they encircle the lifts. Even when designed in 1962, they wouldn’t have been that stupid! Further, the lifts did not serve every floor, so you did need to use them!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

My understanding is there are no stairs in the tower, only lifts, due to the limited space.

There's supposedly well over 800 steps, anyone got the actual number?

 

[Thornaby 37]

My lasting memory of the BT tower was when it got destroyed by a giant cat in a classic episode of The Goodies

 

[Buzby]

There's supposedly well over 800 steps, anyone got the actual number?

The BT Tower has 1,037 steps from the bottom to the top observation deck. Another 36 to the topmost gallery but that’s only for maintenance crews!

 

[Enthusiast]

My understanding is there are no stairs in the tower, only lifts, due to the limited space. I would expect this will impact on any plans to convert the tower itself into bedrooms.

As above, there most certainly are. That said, legislation was passed in the 1960s to permit evacuation plans to include egression using the lifts rather than the stairs.

I've clambered up and down the stairs between a few of the floors. There was annual "Race to the Top" for a few years (until the bombing put a stop to it). Here's an article about it:

Marking 50 years since the GPO Tower Race – LUCA

Tower running is celebrating its 50th anniversary in the UK this year, with the first recorded stair race having taken place in April 1968 at London’s GPO Tower (now BT Tower). Students from the University of London competed against the University of Edinburgh in a time trial format race up the...

www.london-athletics.com

As explained in the article, the stairs are extremely narrow and cramped. In fact, the entire tower is not very spacious. It is only about 20m in diameter (that's about two bus lengths) and by the time you take out the central core (containing the lifts and the staircase) there's not much space left in the surrounding "doughnuts" that make up each floor. It will be interesting to learn how the new owners plan to utilise those spaces.

Of more interest is what they plan to do with the enormous basement area that extends under the more conventional building that surrounds the tower and its plinth. There were all sorts of things down there that few people should have known about (thus contributing to the Tower's "secret" status). Among the items not so easy to hide were four very large diesel generators, each the size of a small ship's engine. I would imagine they are still there because I suspect, by looking at them, they were put there and the building constructed around them.

 

[Trackman]

The BT Tower has 1,037 steps from the bottom to the top observation deck. Another 36 to the topmost gallery but that’s only for maintenance crews!

Wasn't the record about 5 minutes running to the top?

 

[uglymonkey]

My understanding is there are no stairs in the tower, only lifts, due to the limited space. I would expect this will impact on any plans to convert the tower itself into bedrooms.

How do you get down then, in a fire, with no stairs? ( Towering inferno anyone)?

 

[najaB]

How do you get down then, in a fire, with no stairs? ( Towering inferno anyone)?

It's been confirmed now that there are, in fact, stairs. That said, modern building regulations allow for fire-rated lift doors and shaft construction which, if in place, let the lifts be used even in the event of a fire. I believe they also have to have duplicate independently-routed power supplies.

 

[Busaholic]

It's been confirmed now that there are, in fact, stairs. That said, modern building regulations allow for fire-rated lift doors and shaft construction which, if in place, let the lifts be used even in the event of a fire. I believe they also have to have duplicate independently-routed power supplies.

Entirely coincidentally, I'd been doing a bit of reading about the GPO Tower a few days ago, plus watching various videos on YouTube, and from one I discovered that special dispensation had been given to the use of lifts in an emergency. Whether this was after the IRA attack, I don't know.

 

[DelW]

I wonder how many (ex) microwave towers there are around the country? I'm aware of three, the obvious ones in London and Birmingham, and one between Priors Marston and Charwelton on the border of Warwickshire and Northamptonshire. Presumably there must have been quite a few more around the country (albeit most are unlikely to be suitable for conversion to hotels ).

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Does the one on the top of Sutton Common / Croker Hill (near Congleton, Cheshire) count?

Radio Mast © Dave Smethurst

This image is a radio mast at SJ937867787. The picture was taken from the Gritstone Trail that passes close to this prominent feature.

www.geograph.org.uk

 

[D6130]

Other ones I can think of - with approximate locations - are:

Near Stokenchurch, Buckinghamshire....on the top of the Chiltern escarpment just East of the M40.

Northern suburbs of Leeds (Cookridge?)

Northern suburbs of Bristol....East of the Temple Meads-Patchway/Parkway line.

On Cannock Chase....visible from both the WCML and Wolverhampton-Stafford line.

 

[Dai Corner]

Northern suburbs of Bristol....East of the Temple Meads-Patchway/Parkway line.

Pur Down (or Purdown). Still in use for VHF and DAB radio broadcasting and mobile phones.

 

[dgl]

Quite a few towers I believe, remember you're limited by line of sight, signal level and the curvature of the earth, the transmission gallery (tx.mb21.co.uk) has some pictures of them, though primarily for the ones that ended up having broadcast uses. Of course there would have been links to some of the terrestrial broadcast sites where a wire link was not possible, broadcasters only provided their own links when the GPO wouldn't as the GPO were originally the only ones allowed to provide the microwave links.

 

[DelW]

Other ones I can think of - with approximate locations - are:

Near Stokenchurch, Buckinghamshire....on the top of the Chiltern escarpment just East of the M40.

Northern suburbs of Leeds (Cookridge?)

Northern suburbs of Bristol....East of the Temple Meads-Patchway/Parkway line.

On Cannock Chase....visible from both the WCML and Wolverhampton-Stafford line.

I should have remembered the one near the M40, I've driven along that loads of times. I don't think I've ever noticed the one near Bristol, though, either from the M4 or from a train ... I'll look out for that next time I'm down that way.

I've found a list of the towers, though since it's on the Daily Express website you have to wade through adverts and clickbait to find it.

These are Stokenchurch, Charwelton, Pye Green, Wotton-under-Edge, Heaton Park, Sutton Common, Tinshill, Emley Moor, London, Birmingham, Morborne, Purdown, Tolsford Hill and Turners Hill.

There are a couple of dubious facts in the rest of the article:

The towers were initially built to deliver television, internet and telecommunication ...

and

Birmingham BT Tower is the UK's third largest and was built well before the London tower in 1949

whereas I think it was actually built in the 1960s.

Here's a link if anyone wants to see more:

The UK's other BT towers including one nearly twice as tall as London landmark | UK | News | Express.co.uk

The former Post Office Tower is to be transformed into a hotel following the £275m sale, however the rest of the towers are still in use.

www.express.co.uk

 

[cjmillsnun]

Emley Moor was never a BT Tower. It was originally owned by the IBA and is now owned by Arqiva.

 

[dgl]

Emley Moor was never a BT Tower. It was originally owned by the IBA and is now owned by Arqiva.

Yes, apart from one mast in the south that was at least part owned by the MOD and possibly the odd relay site share the broadcasters basically owned half each of the TV transmission stations when UHF/625 line came along. Previously in 99% of cases the ITA/IBA and BBC owned their own sites but as the UK was to use Band 4 and 5 (UHF) exclusively for colour TV it made sense to consolidate sites so most people would only need the one aerial, naturally most sites used were existing ones, normally using whichever site was best placed.
Later on it was decided that the broadcasters should no longer own their transmission sites so they were all sold off, The IBA ones ooriginally as National Transcommunications Limited (NTL) and the BBC ones originally as Crown Castle.

 

[Buzby]

I liked a story in the paper today confirming the restaurant continued operations on the 57th Floor until at least the end of 1977 when Butlin’s contract expired and the lease was not renewed.

It also noted that the restaurant toilets were actually on the 58th floor, and the main bugbear was that on your return, your table was never where you had left it!

 

[Enthusiast]

I liked a story in the paper today confirming the restaurant continued operations on the 57th Floor until at least the end of 1977 when Butlin’s contract expired and the lease was not renewed.

It also noted that the restaurant toilets were actually on the 58th floor, and the main bugbear was that on your return, your table was never where you had left it!

I believe the Tower has only 37 floors.

 

[75A]

You are correct - the Restaurant is on the 34th.