Shard - punctuating the skyline!!

July 7, 2012 - PRLog -- For sure a cramped and bustling place like London Bridge in the heart of central London must be one extremely challenging places to construct Europe’s tallest building. The Shard in London was inaugurated on Thursday 05 July. It is the tallest building in Western Europe standing with a soaring height of 310m (1,016 ft) and looms over the South Bank of the Thames. This 87 storey tower is generally being anticipated to house some of the leading offices in near future and has now attained the status of being the capital's highest public viewing gallery offering spectacular 360° views of the City of London. Considering the fact that the Qatar royal family is behind the project and a major investor, a wave of lease breaks over the next couple of years is expected to prompt tenants to move into well appointed new offices such as The Shard.

The tower was inaugurated by His Excellency Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassem Bin Jabor Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar and Prince Andrew Albert Edward, the Duke of York. His Excellency conveyed that The Shard is an enduring symbol of the close ties between Qatar and the United Kingdom and joins a broad investment portfolio that highlights the synergy between these countries. The man behind this brilliant piece of architecture, Architect Renzo Piano, calls it a place for ‘thousands of people to work in and enjoy and for millions to take to their heart’.

The Shard is a multi use building with space allocated to various types of usage of this property.  A set of floors has been assigned to serve different purposes. The building, described as ‘a vertical city’, has 26 floors of office space, unoccupied as yet though. Floors 31 to 33 are assigned for restaurants, a luxury hotel with 200 rooms has come up on floors 34 to 52 and floors 53 to 65 will see stunning apartments, promising highest unobstructed 360 degree view of London from floors 68 to 72.

As such Shangri-La hotel is the only tenant so far, although the developer expects the rest of the building to be occupied in entirety by the end of 2014. Its location could also be favourable to office workers who arrive at the train station underneath.

On this occasion, His Excellency Sheikh Abdullah Bin Saoud Al Thani also emphasized on the significance of the inauguration date which coincided with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations and was just a few weeks before the 2012 London Olympics.

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