Kevin Blake's Blog

This week, I heard about a really amazing project coming to a London Bridge near you soon. If the Shard London Bridge, or the London Bridge Tower is built, it will be the tallest building in Western Europe. The Shard will pierce the landscape of London bridge for a massive 310 metres, over twice the size of the Millenium Wheel, and containing residential areas just below the viewing platform near the top. Due for completion in 2011, I think I still have a little while yet to save some money, and convince the banks to depart with large quantities of mortgage(s) so that I can be rehoused alongside some of the best views in London.

And yes, the early computer generated depictions of the Shard do look absolutely ridiculous. And yes, this is probably how it will be for quite a few years following the construction. There are no buildings on the south bank that even come close, so it does literally look as though it has been casually flung from a much larger city somewhere up in the clouds. But this should be no reason not to build it, and I fully support the decision to show the rest of the world that we can bravely spend copious amounts of money on huge controversial structures to make mankind stare upwards in awe. This really does seem like an amazing project, and one that I would have great pleasure watching evolve as I travel to work every morning. Long live the Shard!