[ Project focus: The Shard ] Cutting edge
Set to be the tallest structure in Europe, The Shard will contain office space, a hotel, residential apartments, restaurants and galleries.
As well as being the main contractor, Mace is also responsible for the M&E work, and Rob Shepherd reports on how it has incorporated innovative thinking and best practice into a building that will change the London skyline forever
A
lthough it won’t be finished until May 2012, the work that has already been completed on The Shard gives a good idea of the awe- inspiring scale of what will be one of London’s
landmark structures. A skyscraper in the most literal sense of the word, it already attracts attention, with visitors and passersby gazing upwards in wonder and anticipation.
In the beginning... A centrepiece of the new London Bridge Quarter redevelopment, The Shard will soar 310m over London, and 11,000 multifaceted glass panels will enclose the building, converging with 60 inward slopes to the spire’s tip. Its location near Bermondsey and Elephant and Castle,
next door to London Bridge, is an area that has so far seen precious little of the regeneration that other areas of London
have benefited from. This all means that the impact of The Shard will be immense – not just from an aesthetic point of view, but also an economic one. The Shard is the brainchild of Irvine Sellar, CEO of Sellar
Property Group (SPG), who is well aware of what it means to this area. He says: ‘It is not just what we’re delivering now, but what we’re opening up. In the London Bridge Quarter, we are trying to create a cosmopolitan area, which means getting the balance right between mixed use buildings and local character.’
Line of site Standing on the former site of the rather unattractive Southwark Towers, the original plans for The Shard were supported by the London Plan, drawn up under the then London mayor, Ken Livingstone. This encouraged tall buildings to be built on sites next to large interchanges,
July 2011 ECA Today 29
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