Editing BT Tower (section)

===Recent===
The tower's microwave aerials remained in use into the 21st century, connected to [[Subterranean London|subterranean]] [[optical fibre]] links.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

{{Wide image|BT Tower Evening Panorama 2014-03-05 18.30.jpg|2120px|Panoramic view from BT Tower in the evening, 2014.}}

In 2009, a 360° coloured screen was installed {{convert|167|m|ft|abbr=on}} up,  over the 36 and 37th floors of the tower. It replaced an earlier light projection system and incorporated 529,750 [[LED]]s arranged in 177 vertical strips around the tower. It was then the largest of its type in the world,<ref>{{Cite web |date=31 October 2009 |title=BT Tower of power: World's biggest LED screen set to light up the night |url=http://crave.cnet.co.uk/televisions/0,39029474,49304098,00.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091102034258/http://crave.cnet.co.uk/televisions/0,39029474,49304098,00.htm |archive-date=2 November 2009 |access-date=31 October 2009}}</ref> occupying an area of {{convert|280|m2|sqft|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} and with a circumference of {{convert|59|m|ft|abbr=on}}. It displayed a countdown of the number of days until the start of the [[2012 Summer Olympics]].{{cn|date=January 2025}}

In April 2019, the screen broadcast a [[Windows 7]] error message for almost a day.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thomson |first=Iain |title=BT Tower broadcasts error message to the nation as Windows displays admin's shame |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/04/08/bt_tower_broadcasts_error_message_to_the_nation_as_windows_crashes/ |access-date=15 April 2019 |website=www.theregister.co.uk |archive-date=18 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190418010719/https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/04/08/bt_tower_broadcasts_error_message_to_the_nation_as_windows_crashes/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:BT Tower, London 13 January 2023.jpg|thumb|right|The tower's LED screen]]

In October 2009, ''[[The Times]]'' reported that the revolving restaurant would be reopened in time for the 2012 London Olympics.<ref name="Goodman">{{Cite news |last=Goodman |first=Matthew |date=1 November 2009 |title=High times as BT reopens its revolving restaurant |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/eating_out/article6898128.ece |access-date=27 April 2010 |work=The Times |location=London}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> However, in December 2010, it was noted those plans had been "quietly dropped".<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 December 2010 |title=BT Tower Restaurant Won't Re-Open |url=http://londonist.com/2010/12/bt-tower-restaurant-wont-re-open.php |access-date=21 January 2015 |website=Londonist |archive-date=21 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150121074527/http://londonist.com/2010/12/bt-tower-restaurant-wont-re-open.php |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{Wide image|London panorama from the BT Tower.jpg|2560px|360° panoramic view from the revolving restaurant in September 2022.}}

For the tower's 50th anniversary, the 34th floor was opened for three days from 3 to 5 October 2015 to 2,400 winners of a lottery.<ref name="50 ingenious years">{{Cite web |title=Celebrating BT Tower's 50 ingenious years – come and visit the top of the BT Tower! |url=http://home.bt.com/news/bt-life/BT-Tower-event-11363983181830?s_cid=con_FURL_BTcom_BTTower50 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170620224249/http://home.bt.com/news/bt-life/BT-Tower-event-11363983181830?s_cid=con_FURL_BTcom_BTTower50 |archive-date=20 June 2017 |access-date=6 October 2015}}</ref>

[[File:BT Tower, London, 15 March 2011.jpg|thumb|BT Tower at night, 2011]]

The BT Tower was given Grade II [[listed building]] status in 2003.<ref>{{Cite news |date=26 March 2003 |title=Honour for Post Office Tower |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2886617.stm |access-date=16 June 2021 |publisher=BBC News |language=en-GB |archive-date=24 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624195701/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2886617.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Several of the defunct antennae attached to the building were protected by this listing, meaning they could not be removed unless the appropriate listed building consent was granted. Permission for their removal was given in 2011 on safety grounds, as they were in a bad state of repair and the fixings were no longer secure.<ref>{{Cite news |date=30 August 2011 |title=London's BT Tower to lose dish-shaped aerials |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14721413 |access-date=30 August 2011 |publisher=BBC News |archive-date=28 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120428073908/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14721413 |url-status=live }}</ref> The last of the antennae was removed in December 2011, leaving the core of the tower visible.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Engineers remove microwave dishes from the BT Tower in London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/uknews/8937926/Engineers-remove-satellite-dishes-from-the-BT-Tower-in-London.html |access-date=8 April 2023 |work=The Telegraph |archive-date=8 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408092514/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/uknews/8937926/Engineers-remove-satellite-dishes-from-the-BT-Tower-in-London.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Entry to the building is by two high-speed lifts, which travel at a top speed of 1400 feet per minute ({{convert|7|m/s|mph|sigfig=3}}) and reach the top of the building in under 30 seconds.  The original equipment was installed by the [[National Lift Tower|Express Lift Company]], but it has since  been replaced by elevators manufactured by [[ThyssenKrupp]]. Due to the confined space in the tower's core, removing the motors of the old lifts involved creating an access hole in the cast iron shaft wall, and then cutting the 3-ton winch machines into pieces and bringing them down in one of the functioning lifts.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BT TOWER LIFT REMOVAL |url=https://www.liftout.net/liftout-bt-tower/ |access-date=22 February 2024 |website=Liftout - Corporate Site |archive-date=22 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240222161714/https://www.liftout.net/liftout-bt-tower/ |url-status=live }}</ref>  In the 1960s an [[Act of Parliament (UK)|Act of Parliament]] was passed to vary fire regulations, allowing the building to be evacuated by using the lifts&nbsp;– unlike other buildings of the time.<ref>{{Cite web |title=London Telecom Tower |url=http://www.urban75.org/london/telecom.html |access-date=18 March 2011 |archive-date=8 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108125429/http://www.urban75.org/london/telecom.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2006, the tower began to be used for short-term air-quality observations by the [[UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology]] and this has continued in a more permanent form as BT Tower Observatory, an urban atmospheric pollution observatory to help monitor air quality in the capital.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Helfter |first=Dr Carole |date=28 June 2018 |title=BT Tower (London, UK): an urban atmospheric pollution observatory |url=https://www.ceh.ac.uk/our-science/projects/bt-tower-london-uk-urban-atmospheric-pollution-observatory |access-date=10 November 2020 |website=UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology |archive-date=21 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200621151327/https://www.ceh.ac.uk/our-science/projects/bt-tower-london-uk-urban-atmospheric-pollution-observatory |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=14 January 2019 |title=Research provides quality check on air pollution strategy |url=https://www.ceh.ac.uk/news-and-media/blogs/research-will-provide-quality-checks-air-pollution-strategy |access-date=10 November 2020 |website=UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology}}</ref> The aim is to measure pollutant levels above ground level to determine their source. One area of investigation is the long-range transport of fine particles from outside the city.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BT Tower in pollution study |url=http://www.btplc.com/Innovation/News/tower.html |access-date=8 November 2007}}{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

On 21 February 2024, BT Group announced the sale of BT Tower to [[MCR Hotels]], who plan to retain the tower as a hotel.<ref name="Kolirin 2024 m662">{{Cite web |last=Kolirin |first=Lianne |date=21 February 2024 |title=The BT Tower, London's futuristic landmark, to become hotel |url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/21/travel/londons-iconic-bt-tower-to-become-hotel-intl-scli-gbr/index.html |access-date=21 February 2024 |website=CNN |archive-date=22 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240222004451/https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/21/travel/londons-iconic-bt-tower-to-become-hotel-intl-scli-gbr/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Laursen |first=Christian Moess |title=BT Group Sells London's BT Tower for $347 Million to MCR Hotels |url=https://www.wsj.com/business/telecom/bt-group-sells-londons-bt-tower-for-347-million-to-mcr-hotels-57fd5b02 |access-date=2024-02-21 |work=WSJ |language=en-US |archive-date=21 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240221103245/https://www.wsj.com/business/telecom/bt-group-sells-londons-bt-tower-for-347-million-to-mcr-hotels-57fd5b02 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Warren |first=Jess |date=21 February 2024 |title=BT Tower: 'Iconic' landmark to be turned into a hotel after £275m sale |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-68352275 |access-date=21 February 2024 |website=BBC News |archive-date=21 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240221101102/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-68352275 |url-status=live }}</ref>