Brighton i360: History of seafront attraction after insolvency filings

Brighton i360’s future has long been thrown into doubt, but now the failed landmark casts an even greater shadow over the seafront and the city.

Now, as questions begin to fly about what will happen next, The Argus looks back at how what was once supposed to be the city’s landmark project became one of its most controversial.

With planning permission granted in 2006, the Brighton i360 opened on August 4, 2016.

An artist's impression of the Brighton i360 before it was built (Image: Newsquest)

Husband and wife team Julia Barfield and David Marks, who had designed the London Eye, designed the i360. Ms Barfield is now serving as chairwoman of Brighton i360 Ltd. Mr Marks died in October 2017.

The project, costing £46 million, was partly funded by a £36.2 million loan from Brighton and Hove City Council. The council received this money from the government through the Public Works Loan Board.

In 2014, Green Party and Conservative councillors voted seven to three in favour of extending the amount of money footed by the public. Labour party councillors, led by then-leader Warren Morgan, voted against the proposals.

Construction work on the i360

Green councillor Ollie Sykes, who was re-elected in a by-election earlier this year, said at the time the party had “negotiated a loan and partnership approach for the i360 to generate £1million extra each year for Council funds”.

Mr Morgan said after seeing the financials he could no longer support the plans having voted to approve planning permission in 2006.

Labour had previously supported the loan in 2012.

At a policy and resources committee meeting Labour councillor Gill Mitchell stated that the Labour & Co-operative Group also supported the scheme and believed it would be the catalyst for the regeneration of the area and would encourage more visitors to the city.  Her only concern that remained was in regard to transport links and how additional traffic would be accommodated.

However in 2014 Labour pulled their support over Green Party plans to up the loan from the Government from £14.6 million to £36 million.

Mr Morgan said in 2014: “The last time the council was asked to increase the amount the council was putting in we said we were drawing a line.

“Now that the council is being asked to commit to borrow an enormous amount, we can no longer support the risk to the council and taxpayers - not at a time when the Government is cutting £100 million from our funding and we are facing increases in social care and seafront infrastructure costs.”

Construction of the project took place off-shore in Holland, France and Australia before the tower was shipped over to Brighton and built.

The i360 was sponsored by British Airways from 2016.

The opening of the i360 was not without its challenges. Nearly 200 passengers were stranded mid-air on the "vertical cable car" because the control system defaulted to safe mode and applied the brakes.

The fire brigade was called during the incident, it is believed by a passenger, but left after management assured them the situation was under control.

The i360 with its former British Airways sponsorship (Image: Sussex News and Pictures)

In October 2022, The Argus exclusively revealed overestimated projections were instrumental in swaying councillors to approve the publicly funded loan.

The business case had estimated that 823,000 visitors would come in the first year, 802,000 in the second, 780,000 in the third and 690,000 in the year after.

The Green-led council, spearheaded by their leader Jason Kitcat, were backed by the Conservatives to grant the loan.

Mr Kitcat now works as the director of digital, data & technology at the Department for Business & Trade.

When the attraction opened in 2016, the business case estimations turned out to be inaccurate.

"Uninflated" projections estimated the attraction would receive £11 million in total revenue in 2018. Its inflated projections claimed this figure would be £12.2 million.

Construction of the i360 pod (Image: Supplied)

However, according to public documents, the i360's gross revenue in the 2018/2019 financial year was £6.3 million. In the year to June 30, 2021, this fell to £2.9 million.

Only in its first year did the number of visitors go above the amount needed to pay back the loan - 503,000. But only 344,000 people visited in 2018, which is a far cry from the 801,000 people projected in the business case.

The number fell again in 2019 to 324,000. In 2020, visitor numbers fell once more – by 33 per cent – as the attraction battled coronavirus measures including lockdown and social distancing.

BA pulled its sponsorship in January 2022. The attraction was rebranded as the Brighton i360 in October of the same year.

Brighton i360 Ltd’s debts to Brighton and Hove City Council hit £48 million in June 2023.

The debt officially topped £50 million as of December 31 last year.

i360 bosses said in July it would not be able to resume paying back its debt to the council until 2025.

The i360 on Brighton seafront (Image: Newsquest)

A report blamed “unfavourable weather” for the inability to make repayments.

The accounts released in July show Brighton i360 Ltd paid £700,000 to the council in June 2022.

The company has since been able to pay just £250,000 to the council from July 2022 to July 2024.

In the same period, the outstanding debt to the council hit nearly £50 million – meaning that Brighton i360 has repaid its debt at a rate of 0.25 per cent a year.

At that rate the loan would be fully repaid in 2424.