SHARD LIGHTS – A SHORT DOCUMENTARY
A behind-the-scenes look at the planning and installation of the 2016 Shard Lights display.
The 2016 Shard Lights display launched on Monday 12th December with special arrangements marking Christmas Eve and the final show in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
Each evening after dusk the building’s spire illuminated the London skyline with 344 luminares, including state of the art LED beams. Standing as a beacon for modern London, the 20-storey installation could be seen from 40km away with a potential audience exceeding nine million people each night.
A project of this magnitude equates to lighting Tower Bridge and has used a length of temporary cabling (2,000m) that could stretch 239 London double-decker buses. The delivery and installation of the lighting equipment at the top of the building had to be carefully planned with the team working around high winds, rain and sub-zero temperatures with frost and snow.
“THE TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION REQUIRED TO CREATE A LIGHTING SHOW OF THIS MAGNITUDE IS SUBSTANTIAL, ESPECIALLY AS WE WANTED TO PRODUCE SOMETHING THAT COULD BE SEEN ACROSS THE CITY. THE EXPERTISE REQUIRED TO LIGHT 20 FLOORS OF THE BUILDING AND MAKE IT DRAMATICALLY VISIBLE IS UNDENIABLY A SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENT AND SOMETHING THAT WE ARE PROUD TO DELIVER FOR LONDON.”
Michael Baker
CEO of REM, Asset Manager for The Shard
The Shard’s 2016 light show was designed by Woodroffe Bassett Design.
