On the banks of the Thames in London, the largest building in the EU is rising

London - Currently, it "only" rises to a height of 244 meters, primarily showcasing a cumbersome concrete structure that rather mars the London skyline. However, when the skyscraper rising on the right bank of the Thames is completed next spring, it is set to become the glass dominant feature of the city and will be the tallest skyscraper in the European Union at a height of 310 meters.
    Initially, it was officially named after its location London Bridge Tower, meaning the tower by London Bridge. Soon, it was dubbed Shard of Glass and eventually just Shard.
    It was designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano, known for his work as a co-creator of the Pompidou Centre in Paris. For the Shard, he drew inspiration from the 18th-century descriptions of London by the Italian painter Canaletto. According to him, the metropolis was a flat city from which the peaks of church steeples emerged.
    In this case, however, the building will somewhat overshadow the church steeple. It will have 72 occupied floors, with an additional 15 floors forming a glass extension. According to Piano, the skyscraper is meant to "merge with the city" at the bottom and "essentially dissolve" at the top.
    Until recently, London was a fairly conservative city from an architectural perspective and did not have many tall buildings. Thus, it is no surprise that even the Shard has been the target of criticism. Prince Charles, who actively seeks to intervene in architecture, remarked that "London seems to be turning into an absurd picnic table". "We already have a giant cucumber, now it looks like we will have an enormous salt shaker," commented the heir to the throne regarding the new skyscraper. He was simultaneously referring to another well-known tall building nicknamed the Gherkin, meaning cucumber.
    The spiritual father of the entire project is businessman Irvine Sellar, who chose a busy traffic junction by London Bridge. It is an atypical location, as most skyscrapers built in London since the 1980s are either across the river in the City or in the new financial center at the former docks at Canary Wharf. Moreover, the area around London Bridge is not considered one of the most beautiful parts of the capital.
    However, the project had enthusiastic support from the previous London mayor, Labour's Ken Livingstone. His successor, Conservative Boris Johnson, also labeled the skyscraper as "a clear example of confidence in the capital's economy."
    Nevertheless, the entire project was on shaky ground after the financial crisis in 2008, which significantly impacted new constructions. However, the Shard was saved by a consortium of investors from Qatar, who purchased 80 percent of the stake. According to the British press, the construction cost is estimated at £425 million (almost 12 billion crowns).
    Construction thus began on the site of unsightly office buildings from the 1970s. By the end of 2010, the concrete core of the building was completed, whose slanted walls will be covered with 56,000 square meters of special glass panels. This phase is expected to be completed in May 2012, and the first tenants are supposed to move in by the end of next year.
    The first 28 floors will contain offices for a total of 7,000 people, followed by two floors of restaurants, with the Shangri-La Hotel situated from the 34th to the 52nd floor, and the next 12 floors will feature the highest apartments in Britain. Floors 68 to 72 will house observation areas for the public.
    Although the only confirmed buyer of space in the Shard is the Hong Kong hotel group Shangri-La, the building's owners expect the offices to generate £36 million (1 billion crowns) per year, and the apartments to sell for around ten million pounds (277 million crowns).
    According to regulations from the British aviation safety organization, no building taller than 310 meters is allowed to be constructed in London, thus the Shard will be the 45th tallest building in the world. However, it will remain the tallest building in the European Union.
    In Europe, it is expected to be surpassed upon completion by the Mercury City Tower in Moscow, and within the European Union, by the Hermitage Plaza in the Paris district of La Défense, which is projected to reach a height of 323 meters by 2016.