Its A Tall As The Eiffel Tower & Being Built In London...

[im]

...so why no news of the what will be (for a short time) Europes tallest building. I am of course referring to the 'Shard of Glass' at London Bridge:



Building is now well underway in what promises to be the 1st of 14 new skyscrappers to be built in London that will transform the skyline into something resembling a US city.

And yet we hear absolutely zilch about it on TV or in the Media.

Pictures here of the building site taken on Saturday just gone:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=418...

You'd think we'd be a bit more 'proud' of the construction.

[im]

Muzzer said:

Are they those buildings that fight each other?

Damn pedants get everywhere...

[im]

derestrictor said:

Brilliant.

With any luck, the Capital's comliest fillies will lose their minds, think it's an episode of Buck Rogers In The 25th Century and clad themselves in the garb of Erin Gray.

At which point, some chap like young Rico (although he may not be that young, these days) can pop out from behind which ever UAE plated Veyron he's loitering around for the day and stalk more traditional fare with his bulging lens.

[im]

TEKNOPUG said:

The reason that there is no publicity is that there is nothing to see! A hole in the ground is hardly news worthy.

Of course its news worthy..."Construction has started on the largest building in Europe" kind of headlines I'd have thought...

Edited by im on Monday 7th September 17:47

[im]

Well you only have to go up the Eiffel Tower and survey Paris and then onto the London Eye to realise how truly dire London looks by comparison. Both architecturally and aesthetically London is pretty bloody grim. With its characterless buildings which are mostly grey (and a dirty grey at that) when seen from above its certainly never going to win any beauty contests.

The new buildings, whilst not to everyones taste, will drag London into the new century and take your eye's focus of attention off the hotch-potch of unco-ordinated, dull and tasteless buildings that currently comprise London's skyline and hopefully display a more pleasing aspect.

It will never be an NYC or Paris but it just might develop a beauty of its own - and frankly not before time.

[im]

Although 1,017 feet tall (Canary Wharf is 773 feet and the Eiffel Tower is 1,063 feet tall although this includes the antenna at the top which is 79 feet), the Shard will still be a baby when compared with some overseas buildings.

The Barj Dubai is 2,684 feet tall and the propsed Saudi Arabian 'Mile High Tower' is actually over 5,250 feet tall.

Truly astonishing feats of engineering!


ETA:

There are currently 4 buildings under construction in London that are taller than Canary Wharf and 1 which is approx the same size. Another has been "approved" whilst 1 more is at the consultation stage.

On top of this there are 5 which are over 200m tall in production as well - Canary Wharf is 235m as a guide.

Edited by im on Tuesday 8th September 11:38

[im]

For those interested, a little perspective:

[im]

I had no idea how much I'd understated the future development of London's skyline. The picture below shows the London skyline as has been agreed thus far I believe.

Bear in mind the 'shard' in the middle of the picture is the height of the Eiffel Tower and then look at the amount of buildings going up that are almost the same height:



And thats not all......reading this there are literally a hundred other new buildings being planned...try this 3/4's of the way down is a list with details of each proposal.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=857...

[im]

cazzer said:

grumbledoak said:

Jonny671 said:

I saw that picture before, its very cool.. I'd love to see London looking like that one day.

I completely disagree (that's seemingly what the internet is for!)

London's character is in it's history. Despite the best efforts of the Luftwaffe, plenty of real historical significance remains, generally stone or stone clad, and maybe five stories tall. For a short while we had a policy of building very carefully around them, pushing most of the skyscrapers to the Wharf, much as 'Ze French' have done at La Defense.

The current, apparent, free-for-all will just destroy the character that we have, replacing it with ego and juvenile priapism. It just seems like a final big 'fk you' from the outgoing, largely Northern, lackwits, of whom Prescott was the ideal personification.

Oi...I object to that. Don't think being northern has anything to do with it.
I'm northern and I think it's a travesty.
The rot set in with the London Eye.

Well surely if its not to your liking then the rot set in with Canary Wharf...

[im]

16th February 2010



12th March 2010 (or 28 Days Later)




Now thats an impressive construction speed!

Edited by im on Tuesday 16th March 16:01

[im]

Going up like a rocket now.

Edited by im on Tuesday 16th March 16:03

[im]

A quick render in line with this threads topic

[im]

CooperS said:

Any new pictures

March 9th:

[im]

Canary Wharf becomes just another tall building in that picture - nothing special - which is fine because I've never been happy with that place representing whats 'biggest' in the UK.

[im]

sleep envy said:

CW isn't 50% complete yet

the skyline is yet to change...

It looks finished to me...

[im]

Oh ffs

[im]

My point still stands though. 1 Canada Sq will look nought special when all the building work finishes - thankfully.

Edited by im on Friday 12th March 00:02

[im]

16th February 2010



12th March 2010 (or 28 Days Later)




Now thats an impressive construction speed!

[im]

I climbed all the way to the top of a very tall crane...TWICE...to get those shots - but does anybody say "thanks"?

[im]

Well I think if you'd done your homework correctly you'd have found that they were out of commission on those 2 days. So, there was nothing else for it...