The Sky Tower is a

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that ...

and

observation tower An observation tower is a structure used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision to conduct long distance observations. Observation towers are usually at least tall and are made from stone, iron, an ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

, New Zealand. Located at the corner of Victoria and Federal Streets within the city's CBD, it is tall, as measured from ground level to the top of the mast,Sky Tower Official page
''-'' making it the second tallest freestanding structure in the Southern Hemisphere, surpassed by Luminary Tower in Jakarta, Indonesia. and the 28th tallest tower in the world. Since its completion in 1997 the Sky Tower has become an iconic landmark in Auckland's skyline, due to its height and design. The tower is part of the

SkyCity Auckland Skycity Auckland is an entertainment complex and casino in the central business district of Auckland, New Zealand, between Victoria and Federal Streets. Located at the base of the Sky Tower, it was the second casino in New Zealand, and is the on ...

casino complex, originally built in 1994–1997 for

Harrah's Entertainment Harrah's Entertainment (later named Caesars Entertainment Corporation, previously The Promus Companies) was an American casino and hotel company founded in Reno, Nevada, and based in Paradise, Nevada, that operated over 50 properties and seven ...

. Several upper levels are accessible to the public, attracting an average of 1,150 visitors per day (over 415,000 per year).

Public facilities

The Sky Tower has several upper levels that are accessible to the public: * Level 50: Sky Cafe * Level 51: Main Observation Deck * Level 52: Orbit 360° Dining * Level 53: The Sugar Club restaurant, SkyWalk and SkyJump * Level 60: Sky Deck The upper portion of the tower contains two restaurants and a cafe—including New Zealand's only

revolving restaurant A revolving restaurant or rotating restaurant is usually a tower restaurant eating space designed to rest atop a broad circular revolving platform that operates as a large turntable. The building remains stationary and the diners are carried on ...

, located from the ground, which turns 360 degrees every hour.
Official Orbit 360 Dining page
Retrieved 28 August 2014 There is also a brasserie-style buffet located one floor above the main observatory level. It has three observation decks at different heights, each providing 360-degree views of the city. The main observation level at has thick glass sections of flooring giving a view straight to the ground.Sky Tower demonstration
(Explore the Sky Tower) The top observation deck labeled "Skydeck" sits just below the main antenna at and gives views of up to in the distance.Sky Tower facts page
Retrieved 4 June 2009 The tower also features the "SkyJump", a Auckland: Don't Miss: Action in the outdoors
(from the

Tourism New Zealand Tourism New Zealand is the marketing agency responsible for promoting New Zealand as a tourism destination internationally. It is the trading name of the New Zealand Tourism Board, a Crown entity established under the New Zealand Tourism Board A ...

website. Retrieved 2 December 2007) jump from the observation deck, during which a jumper can reach up to . The jump is guide-cable-controlled to prevent jumpers from colliding with the tower in case of wind gusts. Climbs into the antenna mast portion ( heights) are also possible for tour groups, as is a walk around the exterior.

Construction

Project history

The tower was constructed as a part of the Skycity casino precinct. The Skycity Entertainment Group's initial brief for the project were that they required a tower that was both a high-quality tourist attraction, and a marketable telecommunications facility.

Fletcher Construction The Fletcher Construction Company Limited is a New Zealand construction company and a subsidiary of Fletcher Building. Together with Higgins Contractors Ltd it makes up the Construction division of Fletcher Building. Fletcher Construction is wid ...

was the contracted builder for the project while engineering firm

Beca Group Beca Group Limited (generally referred to as Beca) is one of the largest employee-owned professional services consultancy firms in the Asia-Pacific. The company has more than 3,800 staff working across 23 offices around the globe, with headquarte ...

provided the design management and coordination, structural, geotechnical, civil, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, lighting and fire engineering services. Harrison Grierson provided surveying services. It was designed by Gordon Moller of Craig Craig Moller Architects and has received a

New Zealand Institute of Architects Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA) is a membership-based professional organisation that represents 90 per cent of all registered architects in New Zealand, and promotes architecture that enhances the New Zealand livi ...

National Award as well as regional awards.Case Studies: Sky Tower
(from the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering. Retrieved 1 December 2007.) The project architect was Les Dykstra. Taking two years and nine months to construct, the tower was opened on 3 August 1997.

Facts and figures

The tower is constructed of high-performance

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low ultimate tensile strength, tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion ...

. Its diameter shaft (containing four lifts and an emergency stairwell) is supported on eight "legs" based on 16 foundation piles drilled over deep into the local sandstone.Projects: Commercial: Sky Tower
(from the

website. Retrieved 2 December 2007.) The main shaft was built using

climbing formwork Climbing formwork, also known as jumpform, is a special type formwork for vertical concrete structures that rises with the building process. While relatively complicated and costly, it can be an effective solution for buildings that are either ver ...

. The upper levels were constructed from

composite materials A composite material (also called a composition material or shortened to composite, which is the common name) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or ...

, structural steel,

precast concrete Precast concrete is a construction product produced by casting concrete in a reusable mold or "form" which is then cured in a controlled environment, transported to the construction site and maneuvered into place; examples include precast b ...

and reinforced concrete, and the observation decks clad in aluminium with blue/green reflective glass. A structural steel framework supports the upper mast structure. During construction of concrete, of reinforcing steel, and of structural steel were used. The mast weighs over .Construction Facts
(from the

website) It had to be lifted into place using a crane attached to the structure, as it would have been too heavy for a helicopter to lift. To then remove the crane, another crane had to be constructed attached to the upper part of the Sky Tower structure, which dismantled the big crane, and was in turn dismantled into pieces small enough to fit into the elevator.

Safety

The tower is designed to withstand wind in excess of and designed to sway up to in excessively high winds. As a safety precaution the Sky Tower's lifts have special technology installed to detect movement (such as swaying due to high wind) and will automatically slow down. If the building sway exceeds predetermined safety levels the lifts will return to the ground floor and remain there until the high winds and building sway have abated.Some homes still powerless after storm
. ''

The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspape ...

'', Friday 10 November 2006. The Sky Tower is built to withstand an 8.0 magnitude earthquake located within a radius. There are three fireproof rooms on levels 44, 45, and 46 to provide refuge in the event of an emergency, while the central service lift shaft and stairwells are also fire-safety rated.

Telecommunications

The tower is also used for telecommunications and broadcasting with the

Auckland Peering Exchange The Auckland Peering Exchange (APE) is an Ethernet-based neutral peering point running over the CityLink metropolitan network in Auckland, New Zealand. It is part of CityLink's ExchangeNET group of peering exchanges. The Auckland Peering Ex ...

(APE) being located on Level 48.What is the APE?
Retrieved 5 June 2009 The aerial at the top of the tower hosts the largest FM combiner in the world which combines with 58 wireless

microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency ra ...

links located above the top restaurant to provide a number of services. These include

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

wireless internet Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...

, RT, and weather measurement services. The tower is Auckland's primary FM radio transmitter, and is one of four infill terrestrial television transmitters in Auckland, serving areas not covered by the main transmitter at Waiatarua in the Waitākere Ranges. A total of twenty-three FM radio stations and six

digital terrestrial television Digital terrestrial television (DTTV or DTT, or DTTB with "broadcasting") is a technology for terrestrial television in which land-based (terrestrial) television stations broadcast television content by radio waves to televisions in consumers' ...

multiplexes broadcast from the tower. Two VHF analogue television channels broadcasting from the tower were switched off in the early hours of Sunday 1 December 2013 as part of New Zealand's

digital television transition The digital television transition, also called the digital switchover (DSO), the analogue switch/sign-off (ASO), the digital migration, or the analogue shutdown, is the process in which older analogue television broadcasting technology is con ...

Transmission frequencies

H = Horizontal V = Vertical The following table contains television and radio frequencies currently operating from the Sky Tower:

Television broadcasting A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay television providers. Until the mid- ...

Radio broadcasting Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

Lighting

SkyCity Auckland lights the Sky Tower to show support for a range of organisations and charities. SkyCity has a lighting policy and the public is invited to suggest additional occasions in line with this policy. Common lighting events include: * All colours =

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...

New Year’s Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. W ...

* Blue = Blue September (

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that su ...

awareness month in NZ) * Pink =

Breast Cancer Awareness Month Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM), also referred to in the United States as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM), is an annual international health campaign organized by major breast cancer charities every October to increase awaren ...

Mother's Day Mother's Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family or individual, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on different days in many parts of the world, most commonly in th ...

* Red & Green =

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

* Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Pink, Gold & White =

* Red & Gold =

Chinese New Year Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar. In Chinese and other East Asian cultures, the festival is commonly referred to as the Spring Festival () a ...

* Green =

Saint Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick ( ga, Lá Fhéile Pádraig, lit=the Day of the Festival of Patrick), is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patr ...

* Red top =

Anzac Day , image = Dawn service gnangarra 03.jpg , caption = Anzac Day Dawn Service at Kings Park, Western Australia, 25 April 2009, 94th anniversary. , observedby = Australia Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Cook Islands Ne ...

(with Poppy emblem projection) , Cure Kids Red Nose Day (fundraising appeal for children's health research) * Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple =

Pride Month LGBT Pride Month is a month, typically in June, dedicated to celebration and commemoration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) pride. Pride Month began after the Stonewall riots, a series of gay liberation protests in 1969, and ha ...

* Orange at the base fading to yellow at the top = Matariki * Green base and yellow top = Daffodil Day (Cancer Society New Zealand) * No lighting (except aircraft warning lights) =

Earth Hour Earth Hour is a worldwide movement organized by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The event is held annually, encouraging individuals, communities, and businesses to turn off non-essential electric lights, for one hour, from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. ...

, Day in memorial of the death of the

head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and ...

, the

governor-general Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

, the

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

, any governmental member or important people. The tower is lit up for special occasions. Examples include New Zealand's 2021 vaccination campaign, with the tower illuminated in blue and white when 80% and 90% vaccination rates were achieved. The tower was blue and yellow in early March 2022 in solidarity with Ukraine over the 2022 Russian invasion. After SkyCity initially refused requests from members of the public to lend support,

Phil Goff Philip Bruce Goff (born 22 June 1953) is a New Zealand politician. He was a member of the New Zealand Parliament from 1981 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 2016. He served as leader of the Labour Party and leader of the Opposition between 11 N ...

as mayor of Auckland intervened and the Sky Tower was one of three Auckland landmarks that was lit up for three days (the others were the Auckland Harbour Bridge and

Auckland War Memorial Museum The Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira (or simply the Auckland Museum) is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its collections concentrate on New Zealand history (and especially the history of the Auckl ...

). The tower went blue to honour the death of Constable Matthew Hunt. Also in March 2022, the tower was red celebrating the

Auckland Arts Festival Formerly known as Auckland Festival, Auckland Arts Festival or is an annual arts and cultural festival held in Auckland, New Zealand. The Festival features works from New Zealand, the Pacific, Asia and beyond, including world premieres of new wor ...

Energy efficient lighting

The top half of the Sky Tower is lit by energy efficient LED lighting which replaced the original metal halide floodlights in May 2009. The LEDs can produce millions of different colour combinations controlled by a DMX lighting controller. The original lights used 66 per cent more energy than the current LED system. The bottom half remained lit by metal halide lamps, until they too were upgraded to LED lighting in 2019.

Energy conservation initiatives

In an effort to promote power saving, SkyCity turned off the tower lighting in Winter 2008, retaining only the flashing red aviation lights. SkyCity is also minimising façade flood lighting across its complex. Simon Jamieson, general manager SkyCity Auckland Hotels Group, said: "Like every New Zealander, we are concerned about the country's electricity supply, and we believe it is our responsibility to make this move to assist with the power saving request." The tower was reilluminated on 4 August in support of New Zealand athletes competing at the Beijing Olympics.

Events

The Sky Tower is used in support of special charity events. The Leukemia and Blood Foundation of New Zealand organises annual fundraising stair climb challenges, notably the "Firefighters Sky Tower Stair Challenge" which sees

firefighter A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions als ...

s from around New Zealand race up 1,108 steps (out of 1,267 total steps). Climbing the Sky Tower stairs has been described as a "vertical marathon". The Sky Tower is also the venue of the annual "Tower de Force" competition. It includes a climb up 1,226 steps (out of 1,267 total steps), and various other military skills tests that change yearly. Participants include the

RNZAF The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) ( mi, Te Tauaarangi o Aotearoa, "The Warriors of the Sky of New Zealand"; previously ', "War Party of the Blue") is the aerial service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed from New Zeal ...

RNZN The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN; mi, Te Taua Moana o Aotearoa, , Sea Warriors of New Zealand) is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. The fleet currently consists of nine ships. The Navy had its origins in the Naval Defence Act ...

New Zealand Army , image = New Zealand Army Logo.png , image_size = 175px , caption = , start_date = , country = , branch = ...

New Zealand Defence Force The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF; mi, Te Ope Kātua o Aotearoa, "Line of Defence of New Zealand") are the armed forces of New Zealand. The NZDF is responsible for the protection of the national security of New Zealand and her realm, prom ...

veterans,

New Zealand Police The New Zealand Police ( mi, Ngā Pirihimana o Aotearoa) is the national police service and principal law enforcement agency of New Zealand, responsible for preventing crime, enhancing public safety, bringing offenders to justice, and maintaini ...

and, more recently, units from the

New Zealand Cadet Forces The New Zealand Cadet Forces (Cadet Forces or NZCF) is a voluntary military-style training organisation for New Zealand youth between the ages of 13 and 21. Run in partnership with the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) and local community organisa ...

. The competition is used to raise funds for numerous charities, including in 2019 Mike King's The Key to Life Charitable Trust.