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What do the Leaning Tower of Pisa, London's Broadgate and a large pile of voice recorders have in common - more than you might think!

Everyone knows that the 'Leaning Tower of Pisa' leans but not necessarily why it leans. The answer strangely enough is due to wet soil, which is in effect 'lifting' the tower on one side. In the 1990's steps were taken to stop the lifting process by placing 900 tonnes of lead blocks at the base of the Tower to stabilize it.

Our photo shows the voice recording system situated at No1 Broadgate. What most people don't know is that Broadgate is built on top of the old Walbrook River and the soil on one side of the building is considerably wetter than the other. Rumour has it that just like Pisa, the Broadgate building was starting to lift and on it's way to becoming a major tourist attraction in about 800 years or so. Regrettably it was not to be, the engineers and the IT guys got together and worked out that if they stacked enough voice recorders in just the right place they could stop the lift and consequently the associated lean; and here is the picture to prove it - well done team, but so boring!