The spiraling red tower looming over London's Olympic Stadium has reached its full height. The final steel ring was connected to the ArcelorMittal Orbit, making it 114.5 meters tall.

A tangled steel lattice incorporating the five Olympic rings, it is hoped the tower will help to attract 1 million visitors a year to Stratford's Olympic Park. Visitors will be able to climb on the GBP 22.7 million structure to take in panoramic views across London's skyline.

It was designed by Turner Prize winning artist Mr Anish Kapoor and structural designer Mr Cecil Balmond.

Three cranes lifted the final ring of London's tallest sculpture into position earlier and the structure is due to be completed in March 2012, well ahead of London 2012's opening ceremony on July 27th 2012.

Visitors will be able to go up the 35 storey structure in a lift, and will have the option of walking down its spiraling staircase. The attraction could generate up to GBP 10 million per year in revenue and create around 50 new jobs.

ArcelorMittal provided GBP 19.2 million towards the cost of building the Orbit, with the remaining GBP 3.1 million being funded by London Development Agency.

Reaction to the structure has been mixed; some have described it as amazing while others have dismissed it as pointless.

One visitor to the Olympic park told the BBC the Orbit represented everything that London is, irregular, quirky, useful and dynamic. It includes a double decked viewing platform a spiral staircase of ever increasing radius that wraps around the central core.

Ms Kathryn Findlay, a Camden based architect who designed the pedestrian elements of the tower, described it as a Jack and the Beanstalk type structure that could only fully be appreciated from its summit.

She said the main challenge was to coordinate how the structure's complex parts fitted together.

(Sourced from www.bbc.co.uk)