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A small cache near a substantial london landmark. You are looking
for a micro, slightly bigger than a 35mm film case. It contains a
logbook and a pencil. It might just about take a small geocoin if
lucky.
The BT Tower
The BT Tower is a tall cylindrical building in London, England.
The tower is located at 60 Cleveland Street, Fitzrovia. It has been
previously known as the Post Office Tower and the London Telecom
Tower. The main structure is 177 metres (581 ft) tall, with a
further section of aerial bringing the total height to 189 metres
(620 ft).
History
The tower was commissioned by the General Post Office (GPO). Its
primary purpose was to support the microwave aerials then used to
carry telecommunications traffic from London to the rest of the
country.
It replaced a much shorter steel lattice tower which had been built
on the roof of the neighbouring Museum telephone exchange in the
late 1940s to provide a television link between London and
Birmingham. The taller structure was required to protect the radio
links' "line of sight" against some of the tall buildings in London
then in the planning stage. These links were routed via other GPO
microwave stations at Harrow Weald, Bagshot, Kelvedon Hatch and
Fairseat, and to places like the London Air Traffic Control Centre
at West Drayton.
The tower was designed by the architects of the Ministry of Public
Building and Works: the chief architects were Eric Bedford and G.
R. Yeats. Typical for its time, the building is concrete clad in
glass. The narrow cylindrical shape was chosen because of the
requirements of the communications aerials: the building will shift
no more than 25 centimetres (10 in) in wind speeds of up to 150
km/h (95 mph). Initially the first sixteen floors were for
technical equipment and power, above that was a 35 metre section
for the microwave aerials, and above that were six floors of
suites, kitchens, technical equipment and finally a cantilevered
steel lattice tower. To prevent heat build-up the glass cladding
was of a special tint. The construction cost was £2.5 million.
Construction began in June 1961. The tower was topped out on 15
July 1964 and officially opened by Prime Minister Harold Wilson on
8 October 1965. The building contractors were Peter Lind &
Company.
The tower was originally designed to be just 111 metres (364 ft),
and its foundations are sunk down through 53 metres of London clay
and are formed of a concrete raft 27 metres square, a metre thick,
reinforced with six layers of cables on top of which sits a
reinforced concrete pyramid.
The tower was officially opened to the public on 16 May 1966 by
Tony Benn and Billy Butlin. As well as the communications equipment
and office space there were viewing galleries, a souvenir shop, and
a rotating restaurant, the "Top of the Tower", on the 34th floor,
operated by Butlins. It made one revolution every 22 minutes. An
annual race up the stairs of the tower was established and the
first race was won by UCL student Alan Green.
A bomb, responsibility for which was claimed by the Provisional
IRA, exploded in the roof of the men's toilets at the Top of the
Tower restaurant on 31 October 1971. The restaurant was closed to
the public for security reasons in 1980, the year in which the
Butlins' lease eventually expired. Public access to the building
ceased in 1981.
The BT Tower Today
When the GPO telecommunications services were split off in 1981
(in advance of the 1984 privatisation) the tower was renamed the
London Telecom Tower. After the rebranding of the company in 1992
it became the BT Tower. The building is no longer open to the
public. The restaurant has been re-opened as a venue for use by BT
for events and promotions: since the re-discovery of spare parts
for the mechanism, it is even rotated occasionally. Occasional
broadcasts are made from the top of the tower, including BBC Radio
1 DJ Chris Moyles on his birthday, 22 February 2006.
The tower is still in use, and is the site of a major UK
communications hub. Subterranean fibre optic links have replaced
microwave links for most mainstream purposes, but the tower is
still used for microwave links. The second floor of the base of the
tower contains the TV Network Switching Centre which carries
broadcasting traffic and relays signals between television
broadcasters (including the BBC), production companies,
advertisers, international satellite services and uplink companies.
A renovation in the 2000s installed coloured lighting projecting
onto a new 360-degree light panel, extending out from the old light
boxes, bearing the company logo, as part of BT's "connected world"
corporate styling. Seven colours are programmed to vary constantly
at night and are intended to appear as a rotating globe. The
success of this is debatable but the building's night appearance is
now more distinctive. The tower has always been a useful late-night
navigational beacon for nearby residents, especially the numerous
university halls within walking distance.
Until the mid-1990s, the building was officially a secret, and did
not appear on official maps. Its existence was finally "confirmed"
by Kate Hoey, MP, on 19 February 1993: "Hon. Members have given
examples of seemingly trivial information that remains officially
secret. An example that has not been mentioned, but which is so
trivial that it is worth mentioning, is the absence of the British
Telecom tower from Ordnance Survey maps. I hope that I am covered
by parliamentary privilege when I reveal that the British Telecom
tower does exist and that its address is 60 Cleveland Street,
London."
The BT Tower was given Grade II listed building status in 2003,
several of the now defunct antennas located on the building now
cannot be removed, as they are protected by this listing.
Entry to the building is provided by two high-speed lifts which
travel at 6 metres per second, reaching the top of the building in
30 seconds. Interestingly, an Act of Parliament was passed to vary
fire regulations, allowing the building to be evacuated by using
the lifts — it is the only building in the country where this is
permitted.
BT Tower in London is being used in a major study to help improve
the air quality in the capital - with the aim of reducing serious
effects on human health.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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