The Shard is a skyscraper in London. Standing 309.6 metres (1,016 ft) high, it was topped out on 30 March 2012] and opened on 5 July 2012. The Shard is the tallest completed building in Europe, and is also the second-tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, after the 330-metre (1,083 ft) concrete tower at the Emley Moor transmitting station.
The tower has 72 habitable floors, with a viewing gallery and open-air observation deck – the UK’s highest – on the 72nd floor, at a height of 245 metres (804 ft). The Shard was designed with an irregular pyramidal shape from the base to the top, and is clad entirely in glass. Its structure was completed in April 2012.
The Shard contains office space, a 200-bed 5-star hotel, three floors of restaurants, ten apartments (priced at approximately £50 million each), and a public viewing platform.