10 facts about The Shard, London Bridge and construction progress

As we come up to christmas, everyone involved and everyone watching construction of the Shard at London Bridge should be proud of the progress made on what is due to become the tallest building in Europe. Here are 10 facts about the project so far.

• The project team has achieved an outstanding one million hours without incurring a RIDDOR accident for which a small celebration was held on site for operatives attended by Irvine Sellar (Sellar Properties), Gareth Lewis and MP Simon Hughes.
• So far more than 3,500 glass panels have been fitted to the building.
• At the beginning of December, The Shard became the tallest building in the UK at a height of 244m with the core topped out, surpassing One Canada Square at Canary Wharf.
• Construction has included London's largest ever continuous concrete pour at 5,500 cu metres which was delivered and poured over a 36 hour period
• Architect Renzo Piano is one of the world's best known architects having worked with Richard Rogers and on projects such as the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the New York Times building. The Shard is Piano's first UK commission.
• The site incorporates the UK's tallest construction crane at 255 metres.
• The Shard becoming the UK's tallest building was marked by London Mayor Boris Johnson visiting the top of the building.
• The Shard will become one of the tallest hotel buildings in the world outside of Dubai once completed, by virtue of the Shangri La hotel.
• The Shard is part of a £2bn investment in the regeneration of the area around London Bridge which includes London Bridge station and London Bridge Place, a 17 storey building for which work is already underway.
• Once completed the entire project will provide permanent employment for over 12,500 people.

WSP appointed lead design consultant for London Bridge Station redevelopment

WSP Group have been appointed as lead design consultant for the project which will be the cornerstone of the Thameslink improvement project. The redevelopment of London Bridge Station will involve increasing the through platform numbers from 6 to 9 whilst ensuring the station is in full use and with minimum disruption to passengers.

WSP is also the designer for the Shard and 25 London Bridge Place for which Mace is the main contractor and has involved Mace on the station design with international architects Grimshaw and Chapman Taylor to provide the expertise to ensure that the station fully integrates into the local environment.

Dave Darnell, WSP Rail Sector Director said, "We are delighted to be appointed for the design of London Bridge Station and look forward to working with Network Rail to transform the station into a flagship transport interchange, providing additional capacity and seamless connection between not only Thameslink and other overground train services, but also the Underground and London buses."

Dynamic Shard Christmas Tree lights

20 Fenchurch Street, City of London

Statistics

• Estimated completion 2014
• Height 525ft (160m)
• 36 floors
• 94,000 sqm
• Architect Rafael Vinoly

On 19th October 2010 Land Securities and Canary Wharf Group announced the formation of a partnership to develop 20 Fenchurch Street which had been one of several larger city projects to be shelved due to the economic downturn. The site had already been cleared for construction before the project was halted and subsequently sold to the Partnership for £90.2m

Following the formation of the partnership construction was announced to begin immediately on the substructure to bring the building up to ground floor level by February 2012 and although there is little activity on site at the moment, Land Securities reaffirmed today that progress is on track as per their last press release.

The overall design of the building by New York City based architects Rafael Vinoly has courted controversy with it's top heavy shape which features a sky garden overlooking the River Thames on the top three floors although the publicly accessible observation deck will provide arguably the best views of Canary Wharf, the Shard, the West End and The City from a single 360 degree platform.

On the skyline, 20 Fenchurch Street has been criticised as being somewhat bizarre looking, however the important chords for the design of this building were more about contributing sensitively to the built environment at street level. According to the architect, the building form is drawn back from it's maximum possible footprint to mirror the city street pattern while simultaneously establishing a visual connection to the emerging cluster of high rises, receding from nearby historic buildings and opening views through the site to contribute meaningfully to the immediate public realm.