Shard London Bridge

Shard London Bridge is a skyscraper under construction in the London Borough of Southwark in London. Designed in the Neo-Futurism style, it is also called Shard of Glass, 32 London Bridge and The Shard. Shard London Bridge is 309 meters (1,014 feet) tall, making it the tallest building in the European Union.

Shard London Bridge has 87 floors of which 72 levels are habitable, and 15 radiator floors in the roof. It has a total floor area of 1.2 million square foot (110,000 square meters) There will be a viewing gallery and open-air observation deck on the top floor. The building is jointly owned by its developer Sellar Property and the State of Qatar.



Shard London Bridge is designed by Renzo Piano, the Italian architect who created the Pompidou Centre in Paris. He designed it in 2000. The initial design had to get approval from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Full construction only began on 16 March 2009.

To make way for Shard London Bridge, the building formerly ot its site, the 25-storey Southwark Towers, had to be demolished in 2008. It was the tallest building ever to have been demolished in the United Kingdom.

As of mid-November, 2010, construction has reached the 68th level. By late November, it passed the 235-meter mark, ending the 18-year record held by One Canada Square as Britain's tallest building. Shard London Bridge was completed in July 2012, and opened to the public in February 2013. It won 1st place in the 2014 Emporis Skyscraper Award for being one of the most iconic buildings over 100 meters of the previous 12 months.

Shard London Bridge
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Shard_London_Bridge#mediaviewer/File:The_Shard_on_a_truly_lovely_day_(11932892935).jpg
Author: Les Chatfield


The base of Shard London Bridge
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Shard_London_Bridge#mediaviewer/File:Shard_London_Bridge,_UK_-_20130630-04.JPG
Author: Smuconlaw


Shard London Bridge under construction
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:LondonShardSeptember2010.jpg
Author: Pearse

Getting there

Take either the Jubilee Line or Northern Line to the London Bridge Tube Station and walk east of St Thomas Street to reach it.

List of Modern Architecture in London