When completed in 2012, it will be the tallest building in the European Union
and the 45th tallest building in the world. It is the second tallest free-standing
structure in the United Kingdom after the 1,084 ft (330.4m) Emley Moor transmitting station.
The tower will contain premium office space, a world-class hotel, luxury residences,
retail space, restaurants and cafes, a 15-storey public viewing gallery and a spa.
The Shard was designed in 2000 by Renzo Piano, the Italian architect best known
for creating Paris’s Pompidou Centre of modern art.