The Shard Trivia Quiz

Answer: 2013

Completed in 2013, the Shard was the newest major addition to London's skyline at that time. With its 95 floors, it was also the tallest building in London and the United Kingdom. Standing at 1,016 feet in height, this striking structure looks like a combination of a church steeple, pyramid, needle, rocket site, and something from a futuristic movie. It stretches high above the heads of all the other buildings in London's skyline and is strangely lovely to look at, but it's hard to figure out why. It certainly doesn't match the other architectural styles of London's gracious old buildings, but that was the architect's intent.

The Emley Moor Transmitting Station, at 1084 feet in height, is taller than the Shard, but that is a concrete transmitting tower only. The Shard is a habitable building.

Answer: Yes

Amazingly so, this is indeed true. Operating on natural gas supplied from the Natural Grid, this fuel is converted into electricity to provide all the light and power needed for this remarkable building. Furthermore, the heat produced from the engine running this plant is then used to heat up all the water needed for the building as well.

Answer: It almost eliminates the need for air-conditioning

The Shard is covered in 11,000 panels of specially-glazed glass panelling. That's 600,000 square feet if you're interested. These glass panels have been angled in such a way that they always reflect the sunlight - and that, in itself, serves two purposes. The first is that it reduces the heat from the sun permeating the building's interior, thus almost eliminating the use of air-conditioning (which would be powered by the building's power plant in any case). The second is that the angle of the panels and the reflection of the sun and sky this produces constantly changes the appearance of the building in all weather and all seasons. It's a living, constantly changing tribute to nature.

It takes a team of six cleaners a whole week to clean one side of all the glass panelling in the Shard. They then start on another side, so, all in all, a whole month passes before all four sides of the Shard are cleaned. The poor cleaners then have to start out all over again.

Answer: A butler

A butler on hand to fill your every whim 24 hours a days, oh my, that's some service. The Shangri-La Hotel occupies almost twenty floors of the Shard, and the Shangri-La suite is its most exclusive. One of its outstanding features is the 180 degree view from all its windows.

In addition to that, it incorporates 617 square feet of room, a steam shower (but if you prefer a hot water bath that's also an option as well), a jacuzzi, sheets that are the height of luxury at 1,000 thread counts, and a Nespresso machine (which of course you have the butler operating). Oh, and the cost of all this decadence? A trifling fourteen thousand English pounds per night.

Answer: An open air observation deck

Oh brrr, that would be so chilly in London's winters, but the view would probably be more than worth it. The Shard can be seen from forty miles away in any direction, such is its distinctiveness. Its overall structure, which is extremely stable, was designed with the tragedy of the collapse of the US World Trade Centre in mind, following the attack on the 11th of September, 2001.

The Shard, "with its post-tensioned concrete and composite floors, load-bearing pillars and tapering shape" (Wikipedia) can maintain its coherence under extremely onerous conditions. So walk right on out to that open air observation deck, even in the middle of a London winter, and shiver away to your heart's content, as you enjoy the stupendous views the Shard has to offer.

Answer: Proximity to Guy's Hospital

Guy's Hospital is a very large health facility in the centre of London. At 34 stories high, it was originally constructed in 1721, and added to and renovated in the centuries that followed. With an interesting history, it was classed as the second tallest hospital in the world at the turn of the 21st century. And it occupies a site very close to the Shard. Architects and builders could not risk any damage to this historic building when Southwark Towers was going to be removed to make way for the Shard, hence the manner in which the Southwark was demolished.

At least patients at Guy's would have had something interesting to look at while they recovered, instead of the usual ghastly hospital walls and bed pans.

Answer: A fox

The fox is assumed to have accessed the building during construction by climbing up the structure central stairwell and is thought to have survived by living off scraps of food left behind by the workmen. When eventually discovered by a figure of authority, Romeo (as he was nicknamed) was reported to the RSPCA who were asked to come and rescue him.

It took them two weeks to catch Romeo, and, when they did, they released him into one of the streets in south-east London, where many other urban foxes lead a happy life living off human detritus. The Shard's PR team realised the value of Romeo, and small plush toy versions of him are available for purchase at the Shard, the proceeds of which are donated to charity. In the meantime though, "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?"

Answer: An outpatients facility from London Bridge Hospital

Because of the cost of renting, it took a while for the Shard to be claimed by private tenants and business firms. London Bridge Hospital, which is a private institution located on the South Bank of the Thames, was one of the first of these however. It had many outpatients centres scattered throughout London and the south-east of England, but by January 2016, most of these were relocated into the fourth, fifth and sixth floors of the Shard.

Assorted restaurants occupy the 31st, 32nd and 33rd floors; the Shangri-La Hotel took over floors 34-52; an international law firm claimed floor eight, while an investment firm occupied floor 17; other floors were claimed by an Oil and Gas Consulting Firm, Office organisations, a Natural Gas Company, and the Gallup Performance Management organisation. Even the Al Jazeera Media Network opened up a television studio and newsroom there.

So you could get chronic indigestion by eating too much at one of the many restaurants there, get attended to at the outpatients centre, have an international law firm sue the restaurant for you, and get it reported on Al Jazeera's evening news, without ever leaving the comfort of your Shangri-La suite with a butler hovering solicitously over you and catering to your every need.

Answer: Prince Andrew

Trespassers, such as urban explorers, usually have some societal factor of life with which they disagree, so decide to draw attention to themselves in some way to promote their causes. These included Bradley Garret, a researcher from Oxford University. He and his group of "urban explorers" gained a lot of free publicity for themselves in 2011 before the Shard was completed by trespassing on the premises and climbing one of the tallest cranes there. He later wrote that "the conceptual barrier to places in our cities is brought about by a process of engineered exclusion" and that the explorers were "cultivating the creative city that money can't buy".

Later, six female protesters from the protest organisation Greenpeace also evaded security, when, in 2013, they climbed the Shard to dangle a flag protesting about Arctic oil drilling by Royal Dutch Shell. Medical staff (perhaps from the Shard's outpatients floor) were on hand just in case there was an accident, and the Shard's security staff called up climbing tips and a safety briefing to the women during their sixteen hour climb, but then had them arrested when it was completed. BASE jumpers too evade security as a matter of course to hurl themselves off the top of the building. You may feel (like me) that the Shard's security organisation leaves a lot to be desired.

In 2012, however, Prince Andrew, with a team of forty people - and with the Shard's permission - abseiled from its 87th floor to raise money for the "Outward Bound Trust" and the "Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund", two very worthwhile causes.

Answer: From a horrified comment by English Heritage Trust

The design of London's Shard skyscraper was not only opposed by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, but also by various heritage groups as well. The latter of these included the English Heritage Trust, an organisation that oversees over 400 of England's beautiful historic buildings and sites. That's over 5,000 years of England's glorious and utterly fascinating history.

When members of the Trust first saw the architect's design for the Shard, they apparently recoiled in horror and stated that it would be "a shard of glass through the heart of historic London". And that's how the Shard, that strangely compelling structure in the heart of London, arrived at its name.