It now forms part of an office development called Vertigo, and is located on the north bank of the Floating Harbour upstream of Castle Park.

It was the progenitor of many similar towers built around the world, and survived various changes of ownership until it was taken over by the Sheldon Bush and Patent Shot Company Limited in 1868.

The structure is of reinforced concrete, with a twelve sided crucible room at the top, giving it an outline reminiscent of a cotton bud.

The crucible room has a diameter of 24 feet (7.3 m) and originally housed a gas fired cast iron cauldron, for melting the lead ingots.

The lead shot fell into a tank of cooling water at the foot of the tower, and were transferred by a conveyor belt to hoppers in the roof of the processing building.