The Shard, London

Statistics

• Completion due May 2011
• Height 1,017ft (310m)
• 87 Floors
• 1,199,000 sqft (111,400 sqm)
• Architect Renzo Piano

The Shard at London Bridge is to be the centrepiece of what will be known as the London Bridge Quarter, a large regeneration project around London Bridge station. The project was the brainchild of London developer Irvine Sellar, although nowadays, halfway through the tower's construction, the project is being backed by a Qatari consortium with Sellar Properties owning a much smaller stake in the project. The birth of The Shard as a project was a result of Irvine Sellars trip to Berlin to meet the architect Renzo Piano and discuss what would be built on the site of the old Southwark Towers site, which had previously been occupied by a non descript 24 storey 1970s office building. The design was initially and notoriously scribbled on to the back of a napkin at lunch and considering Piano's dislike for tall buildings, it is a miracle that The Shard is to become the tallest building in the European Union once it is finished.

The Shard is a multi purpose skyscraper which will feature office space, restaurants, residential apartments, viewing galleries as well as an open air observation deck and a Shangri-La hotel on floors 31-50. The sophisticated use of glazing in the building with expressive facades of angled panels will created the illusion of the building changing with the seasons and the weather. Piano likened the design as being like a Shard of Glass. One thing is for certain, as modern skyscrapers go, The Shard is elegant in design and delicate in it's appearance on the London skyline as the city's first supertall building. This film shows the impact the building will have on London once completed.