50 things you didn’t know about the i360

With an aspect ratio of 41.15 to one, other British towers don't come close. The BT Tower has an aspect ratio of eight to one.

2. A world first

It is the first vertical cable car in the world.

3. Tall but not tallest

The primary structure of the i360 is 162m tall but an additional spire on the top will break 170m. The Shard is taller - 306m - but it doesn't move so the i360 will still be the tallest moving observation tower in the country.

4. More than skin deep

As impressive as the tower is above ground the foundations are also substantial - piling work to support the structure reaches 20m below street level.

5. No wider than a taxi

The metal cans which form the tower are just four metres in diameter and with the cladding the tower is 4.6m wide. A standard London taxi measures 4.58m from end to end.

6. Quadrupled-glazed glass

The curved glass upper sections of the pod weigh 1.8 tonnes each, and there are 24 of them. Two laminated curved sheets are bonded together, with an air gap before another double layer. The toughened glass cannot be cut to size so the segments were formed to precise specifications.

7. A sturdy pod

The pod, which accommodates up to 200 people, has been constructed not to wobble or strain even if every passenger runs to one side.

8. Heavier than 52,000 seagulls

At 94 tonnes the pod outweighs 52,222 of Brighton's native seagulls. For a more typical weight comparison, that is the equivalent of 15 African elephants.

9. Views from 138m

The pod doesn't get to the very top of the tower with the peak of the ascent 138m.

10. Wider than two London buses

The viewing pod is more than ten times the size of the London Eye pods with a diameter of 18m. That's longer than two London buses.

11. Opening with a bang on Thursday

The attraction will open with a spectacular launch party with fireworks and a light show.

12. Breathing lights

The tower has white lights which shine down from the top and 24 coloured LEDs to shine light out from underneath the cladding. The lights will slowly fade from bright to dim to give the impression that the tower is breathing.

13. All dressed up for Pride

The tower's lighting system will be able to change colour to mark important events. The first of these will be Brighton Pride on Saturday.

14. A fair weather friend

The ride will stay open in almost all weather conditions and a permanent self-cleaning treatment on the glass will maximise visibility even in heavy rain. But if the wind reach gale force eight the i360 will close for business in line with health and safety rules.

15. Top but no spinning

The ride may have broken records for its slender design but the pod will not spin around as in larger tall viewing structures. Passengers will be free to wander around the interior of the pod.

16. What goes up must come down

Alpine cable cars sometimes get stuck on the sides of mountains but the i360 is extremely unlikely to. The site boasts its own generator in the event of a power cut and if that doesn't work a combination of gravity and a braking system will return passengers safely to earth.

17. You can see your house from up there

The view from the top of the tower will take in a 360-degree, 26-mile vista from Chichester in the west to the Seven Sisters and beyond in the east.

18. Cheaper for locals

Tickets are £15 for an adult. But anyone with a BN1, BN2, BN2 or BN41 postcode can get tickets half price by joining a membership scheme for one pound.

19. Cool in the summer

The glass has been treated with reflective coating to avoid a greenhouse effect inside the pod and the floor has an air conditioning system to ensure passengers stay cool.

20. Twenty minutes in the air

The flight will last 20 minutes during the day or 30 minutes if you go up at night.

21. The tower is not quite straight

It is impossible to build a tall building which is perfectly vertical - the engineers allowed themselves a tolerance of six inches and ended up within four. It leans very slightly towards Regency Square.

22. It moves in sunlight

When the sun shines, which it does from the south, metal on that side of the tower expands more than on the opposite side and the structure leans a little further to the north.

23. Victoriana on site

In addition to the tower and the pod the site houses toll booths designed as faithful replicas to those which greeted visitors to the West Pier.

24. Pop your eardrums, pop the question

The attraction will offer a special Eros flight for loving couples, with sparkling Sussex wine and a personalised playlist, so nervous suitors can ask their other halves to marry them.

25. The London Eye 2.0

The i360 was designed by the same firm of architects which created the London Eye.

26. Two years in the making

The official ground-breaking took place in July 2014, but the project was originally mooted back in 2008 prior to the world financial crash.

27. An international collaboration

The flanges were manufactured in Spain while more than 100 dampers were created in Australia. Dutch company Hollandia prepared the steel cans while German steelmakers forged more than a thousand high strength bolts used to connect the flanges and a French company created the glass pods.

28. Skinny tower is skinnier at the top.

The steel cans are not all the same size. The base cans are shorter and thicker - up to 85mm - while at the top they are more than twice as long, but only 20mm thick to make them lighter.

29. But skinny doesn't mean light

The cans weigh between 45 tonnes and 85 tonnes.

30. More than a thousand bolts

In order to construct the tower from the 17 cans, 1,336 bolts weighing a total of 30 tonnes were used.

31. Eight and half years' work

More than 180,000 man-hours of labour went in to creating the cans, which is the equivalent of one man working an eight hour day sticking at his task for more than eight and a half years.

32. And a lot of concrete

The foundation required 4,150 tonnes of concrete.

33. We had our say

During the three-month consultation period hundreds of residents came to see a public exhibition, 500 questionnaires were completed and all but seven were supportive. It is one of the only major planning applications in Brighton's history to have received cross-party unanimous planning support.

34. A bumpy ride - but not for passengers

After being delayed six years by the credit crunch, the creation of the tower encountered further problems when workers found three rogue electrical cables and a 120 metre sea wall buried underneath the site.

35. Underground, overground, this hasn't been free

The extensive preparatory work for i360 creators included diverting 120 metres of a working Victorian sewer as well as moving nine major electrical cables which power a third of the city.

36. The £46 million question

The project is estimated to cost a total of £46 million.

37. Brighton isn't paying

No council taxes have gone to pay for the i360 which has been funded in part by Marks Barfield and in part by the Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership.

38. Living on borrowed money.

Brighton and Hove City Council's financial involvement in the project has been to draw on a national resource called the Public Works Loan Board (PWLB), which allows local authorities to borrow at low cost and lend money to private enterprise at a higher rate, ensuring long term financial reward for the city's coffers.

39. A million-pound profit every year

The 27-year loan from the council via the PWLB is estimated to secure the city £1 million per year in profit.

40. And a one per cent a year kickback

The i360 corporation has also pledged to pay one per cent of ticket revenues to the city. The money has been earmarked for investments in nearby Regency Square and Preston Street.

41. Workers are paid the Brighton Living Wage... in the main.

The i360 is the first tourism employer in Brighton and Hove to have signed up to pay staff the Living Wage, currently set at £8.25.

42. Nearly a million visitors a year

The company anticipates up to 800,000 visitors per year, with substantial peaks in the summer months.

43. Avoid the Old Steine

Brown tourist street signs designed by the i360 team will bring visitors in to the west of the centre of the city to minimise traffic down the busy central streets.

44. Money for charities

The i360 team is fundraising for local charities including Rockinghorse, and next year will be supporting both the Sussex Beacon and The Brighton Surf Life Saving Club.

45. As green as possible

In order to conserve energy, the tower will capture the energy used from the descent to power the subsequent lift.

46. A sustainable situation

The i360 insists that 100 per cent of the energy it uses will be green

47. Eat on the site but not in the air

The pod doesn't have anything inside but beneath the tower is a publicly accessible beach building with restaurant.

48. Children entertained

There will even be a soft play area which will open in 2017. Buggies are also welcome on flights.

49. Award-winning food

The Belle Vue restaurant in the beach building has a menu deigned by Masterchef: The Professionals winner Stephen Edwards. There is also a tea room in the reconstructed West Pier tollbooths.

50. You can even have your special day there

The attraction is available for weddings and corporate functions. It can accommodate up to 800 guests.

Additional reporting by Sabina Dewfield