"of London Bridge Quarter (known now as Shard Quarter), including The Shard, through the purchase of the private Qatari investors' stakes. Shard Quarter is today jointly owned by the State of Qatar and Sellar. Renzo Piano, the project's architect, designed The Shard as a spire-like sculpture emerging from the River Thames. He was inspired by the railway lines next to the site, the London spires depicted by the 18th-century Venetian painter Canaletto, and the masts of sailing ships. Piano's design met criticism from English Heritage, who claimed the building would be ""a shard of glass through the heart of historic"
"winched into place. The steel structure thus reached a height of . The final 516 panes of glass were added shortly after, topping the tower out at its full height of . The Shard was inaugurated on 5 July 2012 by the Prime Minister of Qatar, Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, in a ceremony attended by Prince Andrew, Duke of York. The inauguration ceremony featured a laser light show comprising 12 lasers and 30 searchlights, which illuminated the building on the London skyline. Practical completion of the building was achieved in November 2012. Standing at its highest point,"
"the level of art."" The Shard, built over the underground station of London Bridge, is sixty-six stories and 305 meters high, which made it, when completed in 2012, the tallest skyscraper in Europe (in 2017, it was the tallest building in the European Union but was surpassed in height by three towers in Moscow.) Inside, it contains luxury residences and a hotel, along with offices, shops, restaurants, and cultural centers. It has a wide base and a split pinnacle point which seems to disappear into the clouds, like, as Piano described it, ""a bell tower of the 16th century, or"
"of equivalent to the area of almost eight Wembley football pitches. The Shard was designed with energy efficiency in mind. It is fitted with a combined heat and power (CHP) plant, operating on natural gas from the National Grid. Fuel is efficiently converted to electricity and heat is recovered from the engine to provide hot water for the building. Following the destruction of New York's World Trade Center (WTC) in the terror attacks of 11 September 2001, architects and structural engineers worldwide began re-evaluating the design of tall structures. The Shard's early conceptual designs were among the first in the"
"posted photographs of the London skyline taken from the top of the Shard on the Internet and received wide media attention. One member of the group, Oxford University researcher Bradley Garrett, later revealed to various news outlets that over 20 urban explorers had made their way to the top of the building during its construction. In a 2012 article for ""Domus"" magazine, Garrett wrote that ""the conceptual barrier to places in our cities is brought about by a process of engineered exclusion"" and that the explorers were ""cultivating the creative city that money can't buy"". BASE jumpers reportedly jumped from"
"The View from The Shard The View from The Shard is a tourist attraction based in London's tallest building, The Shard. The attraction offers visitors views from the skyscraper, with two viewing platforms inside the building: the first is a triple level indoor gallery on Level 69, and the second is a partially outdoor gallery on Level 72. The attraction has a ground floor gift shop as well as 'The Sky Boutique,' on Level 68, with limited edition souvenirs. It is the highest shop in London. Mayor of London Boris Johnson officially opened 'The View from The Shard' on Friday"
"In November 2007, building contractor Mace was awarded the contract to build the Shard for a fixed price of no more than £350 million. However, this price increased to almost £435 million in October 2008. In April 2008, demolition of Southwark Towers was visibly under way, and by October, the building had been substantially reduced in height, and was no longer visible on the skyline. The demolition was completed in early 2009, and site preparation began for the construction of the Shard. In late 2007, the gathering uncertainty in the global financial markets sparked concerns about the viability of the"
"a property downturn in 1991, the company went bankrupt in 1991-92, when Sellar lost £30 million. Sellar founded the Sellar Property Group. He acquired the headquarters of PwC in London Bridge in 1998. That year, he acquired the site of what would later become The Shard. With 80% from Qatari investors, Sellar completed the construction of The Shard in 2012. He subsequently developed buildings near Paddington Station. In December 2016, his plan to develop the 19-storey Paddington Cube for £775 million was approved by the Westminster City Council. With his wife Elizabeth, Sellar had two sons, James, who went on"
"2011. She spent six years working on the tallest building in Western Europe, the Shard, designing the foundations and the iconic spire. She describes the project as a career highlight: ""I think projects like that only come once or twice in your career, so I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work on this"". The tall structure required a top-down construction methodology, which had never been done before on a building of this scale. The spire required modular construction that could be built and tested off-site, enabling quick and safe assembly at height in central London. Alongside"
"Southwark Towers Southwark Towers was a high rise building at 32 London Bridge Street, designed by TP Bennett architects, overlooking London Bridge station, in Southwark, London. When it was demolished in 2008 to make way for The Shard, it was the joint-tallest building ever to have been demolished in the United Kingdom, alongside the Drapers' Gardens tower. Completed in 1975, it was 100 metres tall and had 25 floors in three wings. Southwark Towers was formerly the London office of Price Waterhouse before it merged with Coopers & Lybrand in 1998. The property attracted some political interest in the 1970s"
"London"", giving the building its name, The Shard. Piano considered the slender, spire-like form of the tower a positive addition to the London skyline, recalling the church steeples featured in historic engravings of the city, and believed that its presence would be far more delicate than opponents of the project alleged. He proposed a sophisticated use of glazing, with expressive façades of angled glass panes intended to reflect sunlight and the sky above, so that the appearance of the building will change according to the weather and seasons. The building features 11,000 panes of glass, with a total surface area"
"Completed in 2012, the Shard London Bridge is the tallest building in the UK. Other major skyscrapers under construction in London include The Pinnacle, and Heron Tower. Modernist architect Nicholas Grimshaw designed the Eden Project in Cornwall, which is the world's largest greenhouse. British comics in the early 20th century typically evolved from illustrated penny dreadfuls of the Victorian era (featuring Sweeney Todd, Dick Turpin and ""Varney the Vampire""). A growing consumer culture and an increased capacity for travel throughout the UK via the invention of railway (in 1825) created both a market for cheap popular literature, and the ability"
"UK to be amended following the publication of the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) report into the collapse of the WTC. The building is designed to maintain its stability under very onerous conditions, with its post-tensioned concrete and composite floors, load-bearing pillars and tapering shape giving it a sway tolerance of . In 2014, The Shard claimed first place at the Emporis Skyscraper Awards, recognising buildings over completed in the previous twelve months. The Emporis judges hailed the building as ""a skyscraper that is recognized immediately and which is already considered London's new emblem"". ""Sources:"" The-Shard.com ""and"""
"such a project in such a short time. There is also speculation that it is a marketing ploy rather than an actual project. The head of structures for WSP Middle East (the company behind The Shard in London), Bart Leclercq, jokingly said that he would give up structural engineering if the project were completed on time. Even so, he and others have commended the project for its use of innovative prefabrication techniques. Doubts have also been cast by critics over the ability of the Broad Group to achieve such a grand scale project, especially since they had previously constructed only"
"One Canada Square One Canada Square is a skyscraper in Canary Wharf, London. It is the second tallest building in the United Kingdom at above ground level containing 50 stories. One Canada Square was designed by Cesar Pelli, Adamson Associates and Frederick Gibberd Coombes. The design and shape are based on earlier precedents buildings that include Brookfield Place and Elizabeth Tower. The building is clad with durable stainless steel. One of the predominant features of the building is the pyramid roof, which contains a flashing aircraft warning light, a rare feature for buildings in the United Kingdom. The distinctive pyramid"
"Richard Seifert Richard Seifert (born Reubin Seifert, 25 November 1910 – 26 October 2001) was a Swiss-British architect, best known for designing the Centrepoint tower and Tower 42 (previously the NatWest Tower), once the tallest building in the City of London. His eponymously named practice – ""R. Seifert and Partners"" (later the ""R. Seifert Co-Partnership"") was at its most prolific in the 1960s and 1970s, responsible for many major office buildings in Central London as well as large urban regeneration projects in other major British cities. Seifert was born to a Swiss family and came to London when young. He"
"implosion, but due to proximity of Guy's Hospital and other buildings, Southwark Towers was instead taken apart in pieces. It was the tallest building ever to have been demolished in the United Kingdom. Southwark Towers Southwark Towers was a high rise building at 32 London Bridge Street, designed by TP Bennett architects, overlooking London Bridge station, in Southwark, London. When it was demolished in 2008 to make way for The Shard, it was the joint-tallest building ever to have been demolished in the United Kingdom, alongside the Drapers' Gardens tower. Completed in 1975, it was 100 metres tall and had"
"the mast of great ship...Often buildings of great height are aggressive and arrogant symbols of power and egoism,"" but the Shard is designed ""to express its sharp and light presence in the urban panorama of London."" Like his other tall buildings, the glass sunscreen on the exterior extends slightly above the building itself, appearing to split apart at the top. The critical reaction to the tower was predictably mixed. Simon Jenkins of the ""Guardian"" of London saw it as a foreign attack on the traditional London skyline and monuments: ""This tower is anarchy. It conforms to no planning policy. It"
"Russia by the Hermitage Plaza building, which is planned to be completed in La Défense, Paris, in 2019. The Shard is the second-tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, after the concrete transmission tower at Emley Moor. Another planned London skyscraper, the Pinnacle, was originally proposed to rival the height of The Shard, but was reduced to a height of because of concerns from the Civil Aviation Authority. It is taller than all of the natural peaks in London and in adjoining counties, the highest of which is Walbury Hill, close to Wiltshire. The Shard comprises a 26-floor office complex,"
"by the new owners of the site, Aroland Holdings, were reported. The plans were for a skyscraper of 304 m (997 ft) designed by Eric Parry Architects. According to some reports, the design could be ""modelled on Cleopatra's Needle"". In December 2015, the new design was released for a tower of 294.6 metres (966.5 ft) with 73 floors. Subject to planning permission, it was set to become the tallest building in the Square Mile when completed and the second tallest building in London and the United Kingdom behind The Shard. A consultation process took place in autumn 2015. On 8"
"altered over the last generation with new high-rise 'skyscrapers' erected reflecting London's predominance as a global financial centre. Renzo Piano's 310m The Shard is the tallest building in the European Union, the fourth-tallest building in Europe and the 96th-tallest building in the world Other notable modern buildings include City Hall in Southwark with its distinctive ovular shape, the Postmodernist British Library in Somers Town and No 1 Poultry by James Stirling, the Great Court of the British Museum, and the striking Millennium Dome next to the Thames east of Canary Wharf. The 1933 Battersea Power Station and the Tate Modern"
"had proposed for the same site, which would have been the tallest building in Europe, but was so tall that it interfered with the flight pattern for Heathrow Airport. The steel framework of the Gherkin is integrated into the glass facade, giving it the colorful appearance of an elongated Russian easter egg, The tallest building in Moscow is the Mercury City Tower in Moscow, designed by the American architect Frank Williams with Mikhail Posokhin and Gennadiy Sirota. Completed in 2012, with a height 338 meters, it surpassed The Shard in London when it was built as the tallest building in"
"down the steel clad. The first abseil was on 21 July 2001, when a team of Royal Marines, and members of various companies including a team led by David Levy from HSBC, and this team, raised in excess of £45,000 for 5 different children's charities. The event earned a World Record and was covered by BBC Record Breakers. One Canada Square achieved the title of tallest skyscraper in the UK in August 1991 upon building completion (as of CTBUH guidelines), or June 1990 (during construction when it overtook Nat West Tower). It held the record until 2012 when The Shard"
"trains running underneath in real time. An innovative lift service system was created for The Shard by KONE engineering. Guests travel in two lifts going up and two lifts going down. These lifts travel at six metres per second, making the total time to go from Level 1 to Level 68 about a minute. The ascending lifts use video screens and mirrors to create the effect of rising through iconic ceilings and roofs of London, including the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral, the Rubens ceiling at the Banqueting House in Whitehall, the spiral staircase at Monument, and the British Museum’s"
"a 24-story office block built on the site in 1975. The Shard's construction began in March 2009; it was topped out on 30 March 2012 and inaugurated on 5 July 2012. Practical completion was achieved in November 2012. The tower's privately operated observation deck, The View from The Shard, was opened to the public on 1 February 2013. The glass-clad pyramidal tower has 72 habitable floors, with a viewing gallery and open-air observation deck on the 72nd floor, at a height of . The Shard was developed by Sellar Property Group on behalf of LBQ Ltd and is jointly owned"
"the Seibu Museum of Art in Tokyo; the AGM group headquarters in Kassel, Germany; The Hotel du Department des Bouches-du Rhone, Marseille; The Lake Sagami building, Japan; Dutch National Ballet, Amsterdam; King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Norte Shopping, Rio de Janeiro; Spindles Shopping Mall, Oldham; Cavendish Arcade, Buxton;Victoria Quarter, Leeds; Abbaye de la Fille-Dieu, Romont, Switzerland and 100 New Bridge Street, London. He worked on designs for the Shard at London Bridge. Brian Clarke is a visiting Professor of Architecture Art at University College London, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, Fellow of"
"sculpture emerging from the River Thames. In July 2002, the then-Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, ordered a planning inquiry after the development plans for the Shard were opposed by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment and several heritage bodies, including the Royal Parks Foundation and English Heritage. The inquiry took place in April and May 2003, and on 19 November 2003, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister announced that planning consent had been approved. The government stated that: Sellar and his original partners CLS Holdings plc and CN Ltd (acting for the Halabi Family Trust) secured an"
"Connection has a lease until 2025. In early 2012, Selfridges commissioned Italian architect Renzo Piano (responsible for London's The Shard skyscraper), to work on an extension to the 1909 department store. News Agency CoStar commented that the project could feature a hotel as well as office space, or additional shopping departments. In May 2012, a Selfridges representative said: In December 2012, Selfridges acquired the Nations House office building from Hermes, which is located immediately behind its Oxford Street store in Wigmore Street, for around £130m. Selfridges, Oxford Street Selfridges is a Grade II listed retail premises on Oxford Street in"
"steel was approaching the height of the completed core, reaching almost . On 24 September, a final crane – at the time, the tallest ever built in Britain – was erected to install the skyscraper's upper spire. The spire was pre-fabricated and pre-assembled based upon 3D models, and underwent a ""test run"" in Yorkshire before being lifted onto the building itself. By late December 2011, the Shard had become the tallest building in the European Union, superseding the Commerzbank Tower in Frankfurt, Germany. The Shard's steel structure was topped out on 30 March 2012, when its , 500-tonne spire was"
"LLC abroad – continuing the legacy of hotel and commercial developments begun by his father. National Life Stories conducted an oral history interview (C467/05) with Richard Seifert in 1996 for its Architects Lives' collection held by the British Library. Richard Seifert Richard Seifert (born Reubin Seifert, 25 November 1910 – 26 October 2001) was a Swiss-British architect, best known for designing the Centrepoint tower and Tower 42 (previously the NatWest Tower), once the tallest building in the City of London. His eponymously named practice – ""R. Seifert and Partners"" (later the ""R. Seifert Co-Partnership"") was at its most prolific in"
"Pinnacle was to become the second-tallest building in both the United Kingdom and the European Union after The Shard, also in London. The Economic Development Corporation of Saudi Arabia and its development manager, Arab Investments, which largely funded the construction (investing £500 million in it) in return for a majority stake in the structure. However, the build was put on hold due to a lack of additional funding and letting commitments. In 2013 it was reported that a review of the design and construction process, undertaken by original architects Kohn Pedersen Fox, agents CBRE and the developers, had been completed,"
"In May 2014, the Foresight Group, an investment firm, moved its head UK office into The Shard on the 17th floor. In June 2015, Warwick Business School opened its new base in The Shard, occupying the same floor and was officially opened by the mayor of London, Boris Johnson. It houses a 100-seat lecture theatre and a smaller one at 60 seats, plus eight seminar rooms and an IT lab, offering postgraduate and executive education. In July 2013, the Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera Media Network announced that it would open a new television studio and newsroom for Al Jazeera English"
"building which served as a stylobate for the complex was completed in 2008. In July 2008, the Moscow Tower surpassed the Naberezhnaya Tower as the tallest building in Russia and Europe. In 2009, construction of the complex was completed. In 2012, The Shard in London, United Kingdom surpassed Moscow Tower as the tallest building in Europe but only took that position for a few months as the Capital City complex's neighboring Mercury City Tower surpassed The Shard's height. According to Yuri Starodubtsev of the Capital Group and Joey Myers and Larry Goetz of the NBBJ, the design complex of the"