The viewing platform and Galaxy restaurant were closed to visitors from November 26. The reason for closure is that the emergency exits did not meet current safety regulations.

The viewing platform on the 21st floor and the restaurant were closed due to an injunction from the Northern Estonia Rescue Service. The Rescue Service deemed the current emergency exit to be insufficient for the rapid evacuation of people in the event of fire. The injunction does not apply to the basic functions of the TV Tower – broadcasting television and radio signals. The owner and administrator of the tower, AS Levira, will continue operations on the lower floors, and maintenance and upkeep of the antennas on the upper part of the tower are not hindered. The conference rooms on the second floor will also remain in use.

The TV Tower has two elevators and a staircase 66 cm wide, which met the fire safety requirements when the tower was built in the late 1970s. Today, regulations require buildings as tall as the TV Tower to have two emergency exits. The additional stairway must be at least 120 cm wide, but the TV Tower does not have enough room even to widen the existing stairs. The elevators, elevator shafts, the entire 20th to 22nd floors and the current emergency exits will all have to be rebuilt to meet safety regulations. In order to solve this extremely complicated technical problem, the building administrator has consulted with state and city institutions. According to initial estimates, it would take at least a few years to rebuild the tower, from deciding on a satisfactory plan until completion, and it would cost 80 million kroons. In any case, the TV Tower will not be reopened until all safety regulations are met.

The TV Tower was built in 1980, before the Moscow Olympics sailing regatta, designed by architect David Basiladze. The tower is 314 meters tall: the 190-meter tower body, made of reinforced concrete, topped by a 124-meter steel mast. The viewing platform and restaurant are 170 meters high. Considering the building norms of the time, the tower has remained in fairly good order, and no accidents have occurred there.

The TV Tower’s viewing platform has been a very popular sight among tourists, receiving 40-50 thousand visits per year. Among Tallinn Card users, the TV Tower was in second place after the Tallinn City Tour hop-on hop-off bus tour, with 3707 visits from January through October 2007. City Tour will keep its TV Tower stop on the green line.

Additional information:
AS Levira, www.levira.ee