BRIGHTON'S i360 is now officially the tallest building in Sussex after pushing past the 120m mark.

The viewing tower is not due to be completed until next summer but has now shot above Shoreham Power Station, which was the tallest structure in the county, and Sussex Heights in Brighton, also once the tallest building.

Other towering structures in the county that the i360 now dwarfs include Chichester Cathedral and the Gatwick Air Traffic Control tower.

Eleanor Harris, chief executive of the i360, said: "Up close the tower is an incredibly elegant and beautiful piece of architecture, soaring up into the sky.

"It will be fantastic to see the tower revealed in all its glory when the square jacking tower, used to build the tower, is removed next month.

“I was fortunate to go up the jacking tower at the weekend with the construction engineers and already the view from 60 metres was stunning. I can’t wait to see the views from the i360 when it opens next summer and the pod will glide up to 138 metres - more than double the height of the jacking tower.”

“We are on schedule and have less than 50 metres of tower to build, and we expect to complete the 162 metre high tower by the middle of September, if not sooner if the weather is good.”

The first steel sections of the i360, called cans, were lifted into place using the giant 100 metre high crawler crane, nick-named T-Rex by the site team, but as the tower reaches higher into the sky, the jacking tower, designed by the i360's main contractor, Hollandia, is being used to lift the tower up, allowing a new can to be skidded in underneath.

The new can is bolted into place and this process is being repeated until all 17 cans are adjoined and the i360 tower is complete.

So far 11 cans have been inserted and there are another six to add over the next couple of weeks.

David Marks, architect of the i360, said: “Building the i360 is a formidable engineering operation. The jacking tower is a vertical factory, a vertical production line. Individual steel cans go in at the bottom, and the finished tower comes out of the top, with the steel cans safely bolted together and clad in an aluminium veil.”

The i360 will become the tallest moving observation tower in the world and the tallest observation tower outside London, which has The Shard.

Segments of the glass pod will arrive in Brighton in the autumn and then work will begin on the visitor centre and restaurant on ground level.