Piazza Fountain, including associated viewing platforms

Piazza Fountain, including associated viewing platforms

A kinetic water fountain and viewing platforms designed between 1962 and 1965 and erected in 1966 to 1967 by Richard Huws. The fountain is constructed of reinforced concrete, bronze, and stainless steel.

The fountain is located at the centre of the north-east side of Beetham Plaza, set within a large circular receiving pool measuring over 9.5 metres in diameter. The pool is constructed of reinforced concrete painted dark grey (originally black) and is lined with blue mosaic tiles, believed to have been introduced during the 1997 to 2000 restoration in place of the original black tiling.

The fountain itself comprises seven bronze vertical poles mounted on raised square bases, each supporting stainless-steel pivoting hoppers or cups of varying sizes at different heights. Twenty hoppers in total are arranged across the poles. Water is pumped up the poles and enters the hoppers through holes in concealed branch pipes that also serve as bearing shafts. The hoppers fill with water until they overbalance and tip, producing cascades. Each hopper has a different number and size of inlet holes, causing them to fill at different rates and creating varying timing between cascades. The emptying times were designed to range from 15 seconds for smaller hoppers to 90 seconds for the largest, producing a random action. Water from spent cascades mixes with reserve water in the pool, from which the pump draws water to replenish the circuit and maintain continuous flow.

Forming the north-west corner of the pool and rising above it is a large reinforced-concrete viewing platform, painted bright yellow and blue (originally black). The platform structure consists of a cylindrical shaft housing the fountain's water pump internally, with a wrap-around stair on the north side leading to a cantilevered semi-circular platform at the top with a low solid parapet. The stair treads are covered in aluminium. At the top of the platform is a later-added floodlight and a metal hatch providing access to the pump room below. On the north side beneath the stair is a small curved steel access door with a porthole (now internally covered) that originally allowed the pump to be viewed from outside.

To the south-west of the fountain and pool stands a second detached viewing platform of similar design. Its cylindrical shaft is slightly taller and houses a ventilation shaft for a car park beneath the piazza rather than the water pump. The stair is positioned on the south side with the same aluminium-covered treads, and the top platform also features a later-added floodlight. On the east side beneath the platform's overhang is a bronze plaque shaped like an African shield, donated by Cammell Laird & Company. The plaque commemorates the history of Goree Piazza (now known as Beetham Plaza) and records the former location of two large 18th-century warehouses named after the island of Goree off the west coast of Africa.