IMPORTANT EVENT UPDATE

Thank you for your patience whilst we have been working with our operational partners to see if it is possible to stage the Skyscraper Challenge again in 2024. We’re so sorry to confirm that it is not possible for the Skyscraper Challenge to take place in 2024.

In order for the event to go ahead, our operational partners needed to find a guaranteed solution to the technical issues experienced at last year’s event and unfortunately they have not been able to find a satisfactory solution. In addition to this, we were previously aware that building works were planned in the event location during 2024 but had understood the event would be able to run alongside the works. However, as the plans for the building works have developed and following discussions with stakeholders we now understand that the works will prevent the set-up and delivery of the event. As a result, we are truly sorry that it is not possible for the Skyscraper Challenge to take place in 2024.

We appreciate that so many tower run and abseil participants raised valuable funds for their chosen charity by asking friends and family to support them and were not given the chance to complete their challenge. As it is not possible for the Skyscraper Challenge to take place in 2024, we would like to offer these participants the opportunity to fulfil their commitment to their donors and complete their challenge by taking part in an alternative abseil experience.

All participants that were due to but did not take part in the Tower Run & Abseil challenge and have raised £100 or more (including gift aid) are being offered the chance to take part in an alternative abseil experience. This includes Tower Run & Abseil participants who either did not complete the challenge at all or were only able to take part in the Tower Run challenge.

The alternative abseil experiences are at one of the following three locations:

– The Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth: an unaccompanied 100m abseil down the side of Portsmouth’s iconic tower, with views across the Solent and Portsmouth harbour;
– The National Lift Tower in Northampton: the world’s largest abseil tower, consisting of a 127m unaccompanied abseil;
– The Anfield Stadium in Liverpool: offering views of Liverpool and the chance to experience Anfield Stadium in a unique way during the unaccompanied 30m abseil.

The abseil challenge will take place in your chosen location at a date of your choice in 2024, during the abseil providers’ normal operating dates.

If you would like to take up this offer please contact the Skyscraper Challenge team on [email protected] by 27th February 2024 and they will provide you with a redeemable voucher

We appreciate that many of our participants live in or close to London and have looked into whether it is possible to provide an alternative abseil experience in London.

Unfortunately the Arcelormittal Orbital abseil in London is currently being refurbished and therefore it is not possible to abseil from this location at this time.

We would like to offer an alternative abseil experience to all Tower Run and Abseil participants that have raised £100 or more (including gift aid) by 30th January and were due to but did not take part in the full Tower Run & Abseil challenge.

To take part in the experience you do not need to raise more than the £100 already raised for the 2023 Skyscraper Challenge. If you would like to fundraise more we recommend that you let your chosen charity know so that they can support with your alternative challenge.

We are truly sorry that many of you had an unacceptable and upsetting experience at the Skyscraper Challenge. We tried to plan for all scenarios the event could be affected by, however unfortunately we experienced unforeseen technical issues at the event.

Control Descent has shared the following statement by way of explanation for those affected:

Statement from Control Descent, Specialist Partner responsible for the delivery of the abseil and zip-wire elements at London Landmarks Skyscraper Challenge:

As specialists in at-height activities, the team at Control Descent were responsible for delivering the abseil and zip-wire elements of the Skyscraper Challenge over the weekend of 9th and 10th September. We are therefore extremely disappointed that, despite extensive planning and preparation, we were unable to ensure that a large number of participants were able to complete the abseil.

We appreciate the great importance of this event and the considerable efforts that you have made, and we are acutely aware of the impact this had on many of you. 

By way of explanation, we would like to share some further information about the development of the abseil challenge and what caused the delays on Saturday 9th and reduced turnover on Sunday 10th. 

We have been working closely with the team at Landmarks and Threshold Sports since the inception of the Skyscraper Challenge in 2019 to prepare for both the abseil and zip-wire elements of this unique event.

The abseil event in particular was to be on an unprecedented scale in comparison with numerous previous events and as such required a different approach to hit target numbers.

In order to achieve this target, it was accepted that standard abseil devices would not have operated as required, and we went to the work-at-height industry for potential solutions. This involved modelling the time it would take for each person to attach, step off, descend and detach with an appreciation of the human factors associated. To minimise risk of delays it was then agreed we would include a time contingency of 40% on top of the forecast time per person.

A method was decided upon and a scale trial was conducted at the Leadenhall Building in March 2023 to prove the concept. The trial was a success and confirmed that the lowering solution would work. It did, however, bring to our attention that the weight of the rope was problematic for the abseil device and participant to manage. 

This issue therefore required the addition of an engineered rope recovery solution to enable the abseil to be reset  for the next participant. The rope recovery device went into design and was load and speed-tested prior to going into construction.

The final phase was to install onto the completed platforms 7 days prior to the start of the event, to live run the devices, dress rehearse and optimise as required.

The rope reeling devices were on site, though the final phase of the rope recovery device installation was subject to delays. This meant that the devices were not optimised as intended, contributing to a slower rope recovery and ultimately slower turnover of participants. This was an issue compounded by the heat levels on the day.

We would have liked to have provided a clearer reason for the delays on the day. However, we were looking at all options to mitigate the impact on the day whilst not risking the safety of any participants or crew members. 

We are aware that this explanation may only provide limited comfort to you, though we thank you all for the understanding and patience shown over the weekend.

We hope the above explanation from Control Descent goes some way to explaining what happened at the event and answers some of your questions.

We are able to offer a full refund for all participants who paid the £2.95 postage and packaging fee on registering and did not complete the challenge at all or were only able to take part in the tower run challenge. We are so sorry that you did not get to complete the challenge or only had the opportunity to take part in the tower run challenge.  If you would like a refund, please contact us on [email protected] and we will help you with this.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the team directly at [email protected] and we will respond to you personally as soon as we can.