So far, ‘only’ 244 out of 310 meters have been built of the future skyscraper, which will dominate London. Once ready, the new building near London Bridge Tower already known as the Shard of Glass or just the Shard will be the highest building in the European Union.
The Italian architect Renzo Piano who is the man responsible for the Shard’s design was inspired by an 18th century Italian painter Canaletta, who described London as a flat city with church spires. As Cestovanie.sk reported, the new building will be much higher than the church spires. Once finished, the Shard will have 87 floors.
The concrete core of the building was finished at the end of 2010. By May 2012, it should be covered with 56 thousand square meters of glass panels. The first 28 floors are reserved for offices for 7,000 people. There will be restaurants on the next two floors. Shangri-La hotel has already bought floors 34 to 52. Another twelve floors are being made into flats. Finally, floors 68 to 72 will be opened for public so that they can enjoy the view from London’s highest building.
The Hong Kong hotel group Shangri-La has so far been the only company that actually bought space in the Shard. Other customers have not been known yet. Nevertheless, the developers expect the offices to generate 36 million pounds per year and they intend to sell the flats for approximately 10 million pounds each. Because of the British Air safety regulation there cannot be a building higher than 310 meters in British capital. The limit makes the Shard ‘only’ the 45th highest building in the world. It will, however, be the highest building in the EU; at least until 2016 when the 323-meter-high Hermitage Plaza is scheduled to be finished in Paris.
