The BT Towers (Formerly The Post Office Towers)

The BT Tower in London with the Ukraine flag on its display

BT (British Telecommunications) is a telecommunications company based in Britain and it used to be owned by the public sector (which meant that the government directly oversaw its operation). But in 1984 it was privatised under Margaret Thatcher's reign with all the government's shares sold by 1993. British Telecommunications (that is an eighteen character word and the reason why the company is almost always shortened to BT) owns a lot of street infrastructure and a few famous towers leftover from its public sector days.

BT has towers in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, London, Manchester, and Swansea. Cardiff’s and Swansea’s towers are just tall office blocks, Bristol’s and Manchester’s are actual telecommunication towers. But Birmingham’s and London’s towers, whilst supporting communications, are also landmarks and proper towers of a tall, narrow nature with offices inside.

BT Tower (Birmingham)

The tallest structure in Birmingham and standing at a height of 152 metres the BT Tower in Birmingham is an icon. Like the London tower it was formerly known as the Post Office Tower and opened in 1965.

Whilst being an icon the tower is also used for communication with microwave dishes located near the top of the tower. These dishes mean that the tower needs to be stable in high winds so it was specially constructed to minimise sway.

BT Tower (London)

The BT Tower with the Ukraine flag on its screen towering over the local buildings

Also known as the Post Office Tower, the BT Tower in London opened one year earlier than the Birmingham Tower in 1964. It gained its grade II listed status in 2003 which means that major changes to the building are not allowed under law.

It is located on 60 Cleveland Street proximal to Great Portland Street, Warren Street and Goodge Street Underground stations.

The top of the BT Tower in London has a digital display around its full circumference with it usually having prominent BT branding. But because the display is digital it can also show other things with these include calls to get your coronavirus vaccine, pride celebrations, and the Ukraine flag in support of Ukraine.

The tower used to be the tallest building in London but in the first few decades of its opening it was officially a secret. This was because of its importance in the national communications networks and the "security threat" of its location being known.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

London's Hail and Ride Sections

Image
What they are, what they try to do and why we should probably get rid of them. What is Hail and Ride In London many routes ( including the 969 which is London's least frequent bus route ) have sections which don't have any physical bus stops and are defined as hail and ride. These sections are almost always on very minor roads going "round the houses" which means the route is almost certainly not the most direct way to a destination. But the routes themselves have their uses, and whilst routes with hail and ride sections are generally somewhat infrequent, they fulfil TFL's aim for every resident in London to be within 400m of a bus stop. But these buses are not just a box ticking exe...
Read more

10 Interesting and Unique Bus Facts

Image
A mid bus card reader Boarding from the middle door of a London bus used to be quite common (especially in central London) but the number of routes where this is allowed has now decreased substantially to two. They are, in fact, both of the remaining red arrows routes the 507 and 521. The former of these routes runs from Lon...
Read more

Bees And What Is Really Vegan

Image
Bees, through being pollinators, are vitality important in fertilising many flowers which grow into plants for us to eat (and for other animals to eat which we then eat). This is why the declining bee population is so concerning with some people believing that bee extinction will be the cause of human extinction. Bees are small animals and are the right size to fly into a flower, collect pollen, and then play their role in fertilisation by releasing their pollen into another flower. But bees are just like humans and they need to get something out of their work which is fertilising plants. This is the role of nectar which has a sweet smell that invites the bees to a flower and when consumed the pollen of the flower is unknowably transferred onto the bees body. T...
Read more