A Vertical City

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-wining 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. Well-connected and comprehensively serviced by central London's transport infrastructure, facilities and amenities, The Shard is a timeless reminder of the power of imagination to inspire change.

“I am immensely proud that throughout the challenges, we remained true to the original vision of creating a vertical city, with multiple and different occupiers. Today The Shard is a living, dynamic building, full of energy, and a beacon for modern London.”

From floors 68-72, and 244m above the city, The View from The Shard offers visitors unobstructed 360-degree, 40-mile views across the London skyline and beyond. After opening in February 2013, it welcomed 1 million guests in its first year. More on The View from The Shard >>

The Shard’s exclusive residential apartments, situated on floors 53-65, are the highest in the UK and offer the best view of the capital from the most prestigious address in London.

The UK’s first Shangri-La hotel boasts 200 luxuriously appointed rooms occupying floors 34-52, along with breathtaking views and the hotel’s signature 5-star service. Its wide array of amenities includes a gourmet delicatessen, international restaurant, iconic bar and premium event spaces and services. Recreation facilities include a gym and infinity pool featuring panoramic views of the London skyline. More on the Shangri-La Hotel >>

Studies show that inspiring workplaces produce happier and more productive workforces. The offices at The Shard not only provide the most incredible views across the capital, but also provide space, light and air, with naturally ventilated winter gardens on each floor. The London Bridge Quarter development is creating a mixed-use vertical town, and a unique community in which to work, which will enhance occupiers' creativity, efficiency and productivity. More on offices >>

The Shard is home to some of London's finest restaurants: Aqua Shard, which serves innovative contemporary British cuisine in its restaurant, private dining rooms and spectacular three-storey high atrium bar on the 31st floor; Oblix, which brings sophisticated, urban, casual dining, along with a dynamic cocktail bar, to the 32nd floor; Hutong, which treats guests to the fascinating and diverse cuisines of Northern China on level 33; and the Shangri-La Hotel's restaurants LANG, offering artisan delicacies and TING, serving modern European cuisine with an Asian twist. The hotel's GONG cocktail and vintage champagne bar, meanwhile, is the perfect place for sunset cocktails and late-night drinks against the backdrop of the London skyline. More on The Shard's restaurants and bars >>

• The Shard is 309.6 metres, or 1,016 feet, high - almost a third of a kilometre.
• It is 95 storeys tall, with level 72 the highest habitable floor.
• The building is served by 44 lifts, some of which are double-decker.
• Its exterior is covered by 11,000 glass panels - equivalent in area to eight football pitches or two and a half Trafalgar Squares.
• The length of wiring in the building, 320km or 200 miles, would stretch from London to Paris.
• At the busiest point during its construction, 1,450 workers from 60 countries were helping to build The Shard.
• Lifts in The Shard travel at speeds of up to 6 metres a second.
• A fox was found on the 72nd floor towards the end of construction. The fox, which was nicknamed Romeo by staff, is believed to have survived on food left by construction workers.
• The Shard is jointly owned by The State of Qatar and Sellar Property Group.