Claim: London's location is the United Kingdom.

The Shard , also referred to as the Shard of Glass , Shard London Bridge and formerly London Bridge Tower , is a 95-storey skyscraper in Southwark , London , that forms part of the London Bridge Quarter development . Standing 309.7 m high , the Shard is the tallest building in the United Kingdom , the fourth-tallest building in Europe and the 111th-tallest building in the world . It is also the second-tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom , after the concrete tower at the Emley Moor transmitting station .   The Shard 's construction began in March 2009 ; it was topped out on 30 March 2012 and inaugurated on 6 July 2012 . Practical completion was achieved in November 2012 . The tower 's privately operated observation deck , The View from The Shard , was opened to the public on 1 February 2013 . The glass-clad pyramidal tower has 72 habitable floors , with a viewing gallery and open-air observation deck on the 72nd floor , at a height of 244.3 m . It was designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano and replaced Southwark Towers , a 24-storey office block built on the site in 1975 . The Shard was developed by Sellar Property Group on behalf of LBQ Ltd and is jointly owned by Sellar Property and the State of Qatar .