31st August 2019

You may or may not have noticed that the Tower is in darkness right now. As the nights draw in, those iconic lights aren’t switching on, and that is for a very special reason.

Our current lighting system has been in place for 14 years and runs on floppy disc programming… yes that’s right, floppy discs – do you remember them?! So it’s time that we were upgraded, and rightfully so!

We are very excited to reveal that we will be getting an all-singing, all-dancing lighting system that we are looking to launch in November.

It’s a very intricate process that will be completed by Urbis Schréder – a company that have delivered iconic lighting systems worldwide.

Ben Sutton, Marketing Manager at Urbis Schréder said:

“It’s a fantastic opportunity to continue to protect the original investment from PCC in the tower and continue to develop its legacy as a local landmark and we look forward to seeing the results.”

The new lighting system will have increased efficiency and increased lifetime due to the fitting of LEDs and will also have a dynamic control system that enables real time interaction with the lighting. The new system is also designed to support future proofing ambitions of PCC.

Emirates Spinnaker Tower has lit for many good causes over the years, from private hire, gender reveals, weddings and charitable causes.

The Tower has three different types of lighting:

Obstruction (more commonly known as aircraft) warning lights.  These are the red lights that can be seen from all around the area and above – these lights never change colour.

Feature lighting: These illuminate the base of the Tower, including the back, bottom of the bows and either side and bottom of the legs. These lights are white. This system is used alongside the show lighting system every day.

Show lighting:  The show lighting are the lights we can control to change the main colour that the Tower is illuminated. These are the lights we are referring to when we say ‘lighting the Tower’. They cannot be seen from as far away due to the nature of the lamps/light fittings used.  The show lighting comes on 15 minutes before sunset and switches off at 11pm.

We are really excited to switch on our new lighting system, so keep your eyes peeled for our lighting relaunch in November.