Tower Trumps...the new London skycrapers following in the Shard's footprint

With the Shard’s inauguration ceremony coming up next month, Joshi Herrmann sizes up the new London skyscrapers following in its footprint
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Joshi Herrmann19 June 2012

The Shard

At more than 1,000ft, it will be the tallest building in the European Union, overtaking Frankfurt’s Commerzbank Tower. The Emley Moor transmitting station in Yorkshire is the only free-standing structure in the UK that is taller. The bottom 38 floors will be offices, the next 25 will host restaurants, a spa and the Shangri-La Hotel and the next dozen will be residential apartments, the most expensive of which will reportedly cost as much as £50m. Prince Charles has described it as “an enormous salt cellar”.

Opening date: July 2012

Size: 308m, 87 floors

Cost: £450m

Architect: Renzo Piano

Cool rating: 9/10

The Walkie Talkie

aka 20 Fenchurch Street

One of the most hotly anticipated buildings in London and also one of the most controversial. The top heavy design makes the building’s most distinctive feature possible: a top floor “sky garden” which will be open to the public. Originally planned to be 40m taller, the developers faced stiff opposition from heritage groups which felt the St Paul’s view would be impeded, eventually coming through a public inquiry. The concrete core was recently topped out and the structural steelwork is now under way, with completion pushed back to 2014.

Opening date: 2014

Size: 160m, 36 floors

Cost: £200m

Architect: Rafael Viñoly

Cool rating: 7/10

The Cheese Grater

aka the Leadenhall Building

Currently just a few floors tall, on completion it will tower more than 100m over another famous Lord Rogers creation, the distinctive Lloyd’s building. In common with its neighbour, the Cheese Grater will feature external lifts and the slanting wedge-shaped design means that the much-loved view from Fleet Street to St Paul’s Cathedral won’t be as impeded as if it would, had it been a normal block. Newman says the design exhibits “a conscious attempt to maximise public space”, referring to the virtually open base of the building. Because it doesn’t have a central core, it will be stabilised “by external megaframes of inclined steel columns with H-sections up to 80cm sq”, according to an industry expert.

Opening date: 2014

Size: 224m, 48 floors

Cost: £286m

Architect: Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners

Cool rating: 5/10

The Pinnacle

aka The Bishopsgate Tower or the Helter Skelter

Building work is currently halted until January next year after a problem with the pre-let uptake. Like the Shard it will have a big viewing station for the public to look out over the capital. As yet only a handful of storeys have been built but when completed it will have more solar panelling than any other building in the UK, generating 200 kilowatts of electricity. James Newman from Skyscraper News says the Pinnacle will be following the Gherkin’s example with an exclusive restaurant under its spire, albeit 100m higher up. “The top floor will be a mezzanine level, and rises five floors to the point of the roof creating an almost cathedral-sized space,” says Newman.

Opening date: 2013

Size: 288m, 60 floors

Cost: £500m

Architect: Kohn Pedersen Fox

Spirit of Stratford

aka 150 Stratford High Street

Set to become one of London’s tallest residential blocks, it has earned its nickname from some as a result of standing just a few hundred metres from the Olympic stadium. The tower and its smaller surrounding buildings represent a major regeneration project, located on a former light industrial site.

Opening date: 2012

Size: 138m, 41 floors

Cost: Not known

Architect: Stock Woolstencroft

Cool rating: 3/10

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