UK’s tallest building is The Shard

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The Shard in London becoming the UK’s tallest building. Conceived 11 years ago by Renzo Piano and Seller Property Group, the tower replaces a 1960s office tower next to the London Bridge Station with a vertical city, complete with office, residential, commercial, hotel, and restaurant space.

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Improved public transit centers and public plaza space are also part of the mixed use facility, which relies on natural ventilation. Once finally complete in 2012, the Shard will become Europe’s tallest building.

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The central core of the 72 story structure topped out at 244 meters on December 8th, making the tower the tallest building in the UK at 310 meters. A considerable amount of work is yet to be done on the 55,000 sq ft mixed use building which is slated for completion in 2012, hopefully in time for the London Olympics.

The skyscraper will include office space, luxury flats, restaurants and bars, the five-star Shangri-La hotel and a public viewing gallery.

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Two sky gardens are located on each office floor to help improve indoor air quality as well as naturally ventilate the work areas.

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The building’s design was influenced heavily by the irregular site plan and the multiple facets will rise up to a point, but will not touch. Access to public transportation via bus and train are located directly on site.

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source: inhabitat, shardlondonbridge, rpbw, bdonline