The Design of Portsmouth Spinnaker Tower

The city of Portsmouth lies in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. It sits on a small island connected to the mainland by a causeway and a number of short span road and rail bridges. This is an area that boasts a long and impressive history with a Roman fort on the doorstep and the influences of English kings, notably Henry II and Henry VIII, still very much alive in the city’s history. It was here that Henry V mustered his troops before the battle of Agincourt in 1415. The city was also the birthplace of Charles Dickens. However, it is as an historic naval port that Portsmouth is best known. HMS Victory, Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, and the Mary Rose, Henry VIII’s Tudor warship, both lie in the Historic Dockyard and act as major tourist attractions, providing an historical context unsurpassed by almost any other naval port in the world. Economically, the harbour and naval dockyard are of crucial importance to the city in terms of tourist revenue. The harbour nowadays is also an important base for small and medium-sized commercial ferries serving the nearby Isle of Wight and large continental ferries which ply between England and the north coast of France. A project to regenerate the harbour was instigated in the 1990s and it was decided that a landmark structure was required to act as a 21st century icon for the city. The Spinnaker Tower is that icon. This paper provides a brief description of the structure, its key features and its design.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0784407533
• Corporate Authors:

  American Society of Civil Engineers

  International Headquarters, 1801 Alexander Bell Drive
  Reston, VA  United States  20191-4400

  Structural Engineering Institute

  American Society of Civil Engineers
  1801 Alexander Bell Drive
  Reston, VA  United States  20191-4400
• Authors:
  • Tubman, John
• Conference:
  • Metropolis and Beyond
  • Location: New York NY, United States
  • Date: 2005-4-20 to 2005-4-24
• Publication Date: 2005

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: CD-ROM
• Features: Figures; Photos;
• Pagination: 9p
• Monograph Title: Metropolis and Beyond: Proceedings of the 2005 Structures Congress and the 2005 Forensic Engineering Symposium, April 20-24, 2005, New York, NY

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Ferries; Harbors; History; Ports; Structural design; Tourism; Towers
• Identifier Terms: Spinnaker Tower
• Uncontrolled Terms: Landmarks
• Geographic Terms: Portsmouth (England)
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Design; Highways; History; Marine Transportation; Terminals and Facilities; I24: Design of Bridges and Retaining Walls;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01031981
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0784407533
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 5 2006 7:50AM