The Shard
This is a picture of the Shard at night.
Some facts about the Shard:
• The Shard is like a thin pyramid.
• At night the Shard has big light coming from all directions and a flashing green light at the top to warn planes.
• The Shard is 309.6 metres (1,016ft) high.
• The building reached its top height on 19 June 2012.
• It has 11,000 glass panels.
• The area of the glass façade is 56,000 sq metres (602,779 sq ft), which equals eight football pitches.
• There are 44 lifts, including double-decker lifts.
• There are 306 flights of stairs.
• The total floor space is 11 hectares (27 acres).
• 95% of the construction materials are recycled.
• 20% of the steelwork is from recycled sources.
• The design was influenced by the irregular nature of the site.
• 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". Six have the potential to be used, while another nine are exposed to the elements.
• The ground-floor Shard Plaza is a public area with seating and plants.
• The second floor is a 460 sq metre retail space with retail units opening out onto the concourse of London Bridge Station.
• The fourth to 28th floors have 55,000 sq metres of offices and winter gardens.
• The 31st to 33rd floors have 2,700 sq metres of international restaurants, centred on a triple-height atrium.
• The 34th to 52nd floors house the Shangri-La Hotel and Spa, with 200 luxury rooms across 18,000 sq metres.
• The 53rd to 65th floors have 10 exclusive residences with 360-degree views across London over a total of 5,800 sq metres.
I visited the shard with my family and my grandma. It wasn't built properly and I looked over the edge. It was like I was flying because all I could see was glass and it looked like it was just the ground because I could see through it.
My mum was scared because she is afraid of heights. My grandma was really scared so she did not come near the glass.