Qatar’s shard the tallest building in Europe

The Shard of Glass skyscraper in London, majority owned by Qatar, has become the tallest building in Europe, rising higher than Canary Wharf’s main tower, Frankfurt’s Commerzbank and the Ostankino television tower in Moscow. The 310m-high (1,017ft) building is scheduled to open in June, the Qatar daily (Gulf Times) reported Tuesday, citing British daily (The Guardian) which described that a view from the 67th floor makes the city of 8mn people look like a toy town. The spectacular views will next year go on sale to the highest bidder when apartments could fetch tens of millions of pounds each. In all, there will be 27 floors of offices, three floors of fine-dining restaurants, an 18-floor, five-star Shangri-La hotel with a spa, and 10 palatial apartments, each on average seven times bigger than a semi-detached home. A four-storey public viewing area is being built starting on the 68th floor which is likely to cost around USD ?20 to access. So far no office tenants have signed up, although the developers say they are in talks with several and are being selective. From spring 2009, when construction began, Qatari investments poured into the project. As the global economic crisis forced builders to down tools on sites across the UK, around ?1.5 billion – mostly from the Gulf – bankrolled the Shard. The Guardian reports that the Shard, 80% owned through Qatar’s central bank, is now "the jewel in the crown" of the Gulf state’s growing London estate, which also includes Harrods, the American embassy building in Grosvenor Square and Chelsea Barracks. Qatari investors bought 80% of the project in January 2008, when it was valued at ?2 billion. "The UK is a dear country to us," said the Qatar ambassador to London, Khalid bin Rashid bin Salim al-Hamoudi al-Mansouri. "We have been investing in this country before and after the crash (global financial crisis). Our investment is a long-term investment. We don’t need cash money now. This comes from a strategy of diversifying our economy over 10, 20, 30 years. We think the UK is the right place to put our investment. The UK is a strategic partner with our country," he said. Dr. Christopher Davidson, an expert in the politics of the Gulf at Durham University, said the Shard would celebrate community, the sense of the city, the sense of exchange. The building’s developer Irvine Sellar believes the Shard is the kind of counter-cyclical investment the UK economy needs.