What materials is The Shard made of?

The Shard is a building of concrete, steel and glass. The tapered pyramid that crowns the top of the building has a square base of steel weighing 500 tonnes, equivalent to 15 stories high, the last 15, and is made of 800 pieces of steel.

What are the materials used for the Shard?

The Shard is an unusual mixture of concrete and steel, a tiered wedding cake of a building with a concrete basement, structural steel from ground to level 40, concrete from levels 41 to 69, and steel again from there to the top at level 95.

What type of glass is the Shard made from?

The panels, which in total will cover an area of more than 56,000 sq metres, are made of a low iron glass with internal blinds. The glass is manufactured in Germany with the panels assembled in Holland. Already 2,500 of the panels have been manufactured and are awaiting delivery to the London Bridge site.

What is the roof of the Shard made of?

From a closer look, the top of The Shard has splintered glass spikes rather than a pyramid-shaped roof. In an interview with Dezeen just before work on The Shard started, Renzo Piano explained that the jagged appearance came about from sketching. He said: “I picked up in the workshop a shard – not of glass but of wood.

What kind of structure is the Shard?

The tower is effectively three separate structures – a steel-frame building for the first 40 floors, a post-tension concrete frame up to level 72, then a steel spire to complete the shape to the equivalent of level 95.

What makes The Shard sustainable?

The design of the building is environmentally-friendly: a staggering 95% of construction materials used were recycled. The Shard's energy efficiency is boosted thanks to triple-glazed glass, with a layer of sun shielding glass sandwiched between the inner and outer sheets.

What foundations were used for The Shard?

Into the mix the concrete pour

At around 5,500m3, the concrete pour to create the raft foundation to support the Shard was among the largest undertaken on a UK building, if not Europe. As such, a conventional concrete mix would not do.

What floor is aqua shard on?

A stunning contemporary British restaurant and bar from Aqua Restaurant Group, situated on Level 31 of The Shard. Open for lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and weekend brunch.

How deep are the shards foundations?

Build strong foundations: the Shard has 53 metre deep piles to support the building. That is a lot of concrete.

Why was The Shard built?

The Shard was conceived as a building with multiple uses: a vertical city where people could live, work and relax. It comprises world-class offices, award-winning restaurants, the 5-star Shangri-La Hotel, exclusive residences and the UK's highest viewing gallery, The View from The Shard, offering 360-degree views.

Does The Shard have a glass floor?

Each facet forms a shard, a plane of glass gently inclined inwards, rising towards the top. The corners of the development are open and the shards do not touch, allowing the building to "breathe". There are 72 habitable floors. A further 15 levels will make up the "spire".

Why is it called The Shard?

Soaring the highest above the city and dwarfing the meeting rooms city of London is the Shard, the tallest building in the UK, so-called as it resembles a shard of glass.

How fast is the elevator in The Shard?

But lifts soon got faster, higher and more sophisticated. The quickest in Britain, including those inside the Shard, the tallest building in the UK, now reach hat-raising speeds of seven metres a second, or up to 16mph.

What makes The Shard unique?

Threading the skies over London like a great glass needle, the Shard is one of the city's newest and most striking skyscrapers. Completed in 2013, it has 95 floors and stands at 1,106 feet, making it also the tallest structure in the city and the whole of the United Kingdom.

Is The Shard safe?

The safety and security of The Shard and everyone in it is of the utmost importance to us. It is protected by state-of-the-art technology and highly trained security staff.

How much concrete is in a shard?

The Shard has a gross internal area of 127,000 sq m (net 85,000 sq m) and contains 54,000 cu m of concrete, 12,500 tonnes of structural steel and 320km of wiring.

How many floors is The Shard?

The Shard comprises 26 floors of high specification office space, three floors of restaurants, the 19-floor five-star Shangri-La Hotel, 13 floors of residential apartments and London's highest public viewing gallery.

Can children go in The Shard bar?

The bar is basically a counter in the main viewing area so your children are able to be with you. There is hardly any seating which makes it difficult to enjoy a drink as you're just standing around with it unless you're really lucky and get one of the few tables there.

Can you have a coffee in The Shard?

AQUA SHARD

You can get up early, or take the morning off and watch London wake up while you drink coffee and ponder which freshly baked pastry to eat next. On weekends they serve brunch, from Full English (or vegetarian) breakfasts to pancakes, with the option of having a sommelier-guided wine pairing throughout.

How was The Shard designed?

The architect Renzo Piano wanted The Shard to resemble a church spire, inspired by a painting of London by 18th-century Venetian painter Canaletto as well as the masts of sailing ships. The design was also in part influenced by the railway tracks that would be running around the building.

What is the world's fastest elevator?

In the Southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, home to 8.25 million, Hitachi this summer unveiled its fastest elevator in Guangzhou's CTF Tower, which stands at 1,739 feet tall. Its lift zooms from floors zero to 95 in an incredible 45 seconds -- or 20 meters per second (65 ft/s).

How much did it cost to build The Shard?

The Shard cost a whopping £1,2 billion to build. Towering over London's skyline, a £34 ticket to its famous viewing deck seems cheap at the price.