The observation deck on Europe’s tallest building will open to the public in February 2013, only a year after the tower is ‘topped out’. At the time of writing the construction process is almost complete from the outside, with only the cladding on the spire – above the observatory – remaining. 

The building will appear to be complete before the London 2012 Olympic Games in July, but will take an additional year to fit out. Perhaps this gives the perfect opportunity for the structure to become a firework launch pad on Opening Ceremony night…

The public viewing gallery will comprise of several parts; firstly, a large 3-storey internal space – perfect shelter for the blustery British weather – and one which is likely to host a multitude of interactive devices to enable visitors to take a panoramic tour of the city.

Next – in a first for London – they’ll be an outdoor viewing deck at an incredible height of 280m; a similar perspective to the famous viewing platforms in New York with the Empire State Building and the Rockefeller Center.

Finally, it’s also rumoured that they’ll be a tiny meditation space housed within the Shard’s spire which is likely to be invite only due to its capacity. This spire space, right at the apex of the building, was initially intended to house a giant radiator as part of the service infrastructure, however energy efficiency improved so much in the decade from when plans where drawn up to when construction started that it could be reduced dramatically in size.

You can pre-register on The Shard’s Website to be alerted when tickets become available.

I expect them to be priced at around the same as a ticket for the London Eye - currently £17 for an adult.

One of the most tragic things about 20th Century architecture in London is that there were a whole host of beautiful old buildings that were demolished, not by WW2 bombs, but by 60s planners. St. Pancras was fortunately saved from this fate thanks to the likes of John Betjeman. Euston Station, just down the road, wasn’t so fortunate.

In 1961 the grand Great Hall of Euston Station was swept away, along with the famous Euston Arch, to make way for the modern terminus that still stands today. This is what was lost:

According to the Euston Arch trust, “the station was the first mainline terminus station opened in a capital city anywhere in the world. It was opened on July 20, 1837, as the terminus of the London and Birmingham Railway constructed by Robert Stephenson and architect, Philip Hardwick . The station first had only two platforms, one for departures and one for arrivals.

It was also Hardwick who designed the Euston Arch, a 70 feet 6 inches high Doric propylaeum, the largest ever built and which formed the entrance to the station. The grit stone structure complemented the Ionic entrance to the Curzon Street Station in Birmingham (which still exists) which was the other end of the  railway’s mainline.”

 

   In the above photo, Euston Road runs along the very bottom and Euston Square can clearly be distinguished on the North side. The arch and station frontage can be seen towards the centre of the image, much further back than today’s concourse from Euston Road; in fact, the entrance was on Drummond Street which was cut off with the building of the modern station (left). 

 

The demolition of the arch and buildings were actually considered much earlier than the 60s. “In the late 1930s the London Midland and Scottish Railway company proposed a compete rebuilding of the complex according to an American-inspired design by Percy Thomas. Returning from a tour of modern stations in the United States, he proposed a large stripped-Classical block with wings which incorporated the station, a hotel and offices. There were considerations to move the arch to another site. Ultimately the plans for re-construction were never realised, the Second World War commencing shortly afterwards.

More recently, plans have been floated to try and rebuild the Euston Arch with the construction of a new concourse in preparation for the future High Speed 2 line. Whilst this is excellent news, as the CGI below shows, more work needs to go into the proposed buildings to even come close to recreating the awe and intrigue of the lost Great Hall.

Click here to see the few objects that remain from the old Euston Station.

During the second world war, the Palace of Westminster was hit by bombs fourteen times. The most serious attack occurred on the night of 10-11 May 1941. On that night the Palace was severely damaged, the chamber of the House of Commons was destroyed and three people were killed. (ABOVE: Barbed wire defences in Parliament Square, and the shattered south face of Westminster Clock Tower.)

The Members’ Lobby, with the House of Commons chamber beyond. The damaged archway was the only portion not to be restored as a reminder to all members of war as the enter the chamber. The view today:

 

Sir Winston inspects the bomb-damaged interior of the House of Commons.

A few weeks ago the first steel column of the superstructure for Europe’s tallest building was concreted into the ground at London Bridge Station. (Images below show the progress of last few weeks).

 

After a decade (!) of legal, political, planning and financial (thank the Credit Crunch) struggles, there is now no turning back. The Shard of Glass will be completed by the Olympics and will become part of London’s skyline and postcards just as the Gherkin and London Eye have done before.

 (Image shows outline of Shard)

This building is as tall as the Eiffel Tower and will be as recognisable and elegant as the Chrysler building in New York – from the top you shall be able to view the straights of Dover!

I, for one, cannot wait!

Today marks just 3 years until the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games; London 2012. I have been following the huge project since 2002 when it wasn’t even certain that we would bid for the games or not. London surprised everyone by beating Paris to the grand prize in July 2005 only for our celebrations to be cut short the following day by the terrorist bombs.

Fast forward to today and it is amazing how the stadium structure is already virtually completed, as you can see in the picture, backed up by an amazing sporting performance in Beijing. Surely one of the best weeks the country has experienced for a long time – newspaper headlines were positive for a change! “The Great Haul of China!”

The Olympics in London will be spectacular - not withstanding any sporting success – the city is at the forefront of Global culture and arts, and as proved by the 2012 branding, isn’t afraid to innovate and surprise. I wouldn’t have it any other way! These games will be for the world, set in it’s greatest city; backed by 2000 years of history (even on the Olympic Park site) and a host who does things in its own unique way with nothing to prove but to have fun.

Recently I discovered some old photographs of Baker Street Station from the 1920s. These were taken before the grand building of today was built above the Metropolitan line platforms; replacing a number of shops, houses and the beautiful Leslie Green entrance around the corner.

The photo above shows the original station on Marylebone Road (facing towards Euston). This is the same view today from Google Street View. (Note that the front wall remains complete with the semi-circular windows that originally allowed light to flood into the brick-arched Circle Line platforms below.)

This is from another angle (towards Paddington). On the far left, behind the man, is 'Marylebone Circus'; the name for the crossing of Marylebone Road and Baker Street. Sadly this  name has been forgotten about today.
If you had taken the right on the Circus onto Upper Baker Street you would have seen the 'newer' part of the station. The photo below shows the then 20 year old Leslie Green surface building for the new Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (today the Bakerloo line).

Street View. Shortly after this photo was taken the building was demolished and replaced by the large Chiltern Court that remains today (the 20’s promotional image is shown below).

  

There are currently plans being worked up to improve the access to the station. This includes incorporating a dingy pedestrian subway into a new exterior Underground entrance. It was due to start in summer 2009, but the Credit Crunch has delayed it until after the Olympics.

Looks a bit half-hearted in my opinion…

I’ve always felt that the Science Museum in South Kensington was a little lost cousin compared to the Natural History Museum and the V&A. This, due to being largely hidden away and also having a lack of landmark entrance to pull people in from the street.

This is all set to change by the look of some radical new proposals released this week to give the museum’s facade an attention seeking architectural ‘blob’. Perhaps more importantly though, the whole of Exhibition Road is being pedestrianised and it looks like the ground floor will be opened up with a line a doors onto the street. I bet this would increase foot-fall into the museum significantly by itself.

As part of a wider regeneration of the Exhibition Road revitalisation as the ‘cultural heartland of London’, the Science Museum will undertake a redevelopment designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects which incorporates a new facade, new galleries, lifts and SkySpace - a cavernous rooftop space and 'destination cafe' dedicated to cosmology.

The ‘Sky Space’ (large blue thing on bottom left image, gold on bottom right) looks very interesting too and will probably be an impressive room to stand in if you can find it through the museum’s vast corridors. Although it won’t all be finished for at least 5 years, it looks like the road will be completed in time for the Olympics.

 

See the current facade on Google Street View.
Read more about the project here.

 

Photos taken by myself in London a few weeks ago. I challenge anyone to guess where each of these where taken. The 3rd row is the same location. The 1st and last photo are the same location. Photo 7 is one palace away from the second row. Cryptic enough? :-P

One of the remarkable credit-crunch defying skyscrapers going up in London at the moment is the Heron Tower. As you can see in this photo construction work has long since started and the superstructure is about a 3rd of the way to it’s final height. On the skyline it will appear as dominant as the Gherkin and Tower42 (NatWest tower to those who haven’t caught up yet!)

Found this corporate video from Minds Eye Media which shows some of the views that will be on offer once this thing is complete at the end of next year. I believe there will be a public bar right at the top for us to enjoy and you can also see the HUGE aquarium in the reception area on this video:

http://www.mindseyemedia.tv/index.php?action=work&do_view=1&id=41

Right along-side the Palace of Westminster and Westminster Bridge sits the unusual yet inconspicuous building of Portcullis House. Few people realise what goes on inside or what it’s there for. It is virtually an extension to the Houses of Parliament linked by underground tunnels, and to neighbouring buildings by elevated foot bridges. (Portcullis House is the black building on the left in the image below).

The building has many offices for MPs of all parties on the upper floors, with committee rooms on the first floor which you will have probably seen on TV without realising. These are used for select committee meetings and similar – most recently seen in the background of the infamous apology from 4 bankers as a result of the Credit Crunch. On the ground level there is a very impressive atrium complete with real trees and water features and surrounded by cafés, restaurants and the Parliamentary bookshop. Beneath this there is a very thick slab of concrete to protect the building from the potential of tube bombs from the Circle and District lines of the new Westminster Station which sits directly below. Far below that lies the new Jubilee Line station. Thus if this building started at ground level it would actually come to the height of Big Ben’s clock face!

Did you know that this building was specifically designed to last more than 200 years, using dear materials such as aluminium bronze in the roof and walls, thus making this one of the most expensive office buildings in the world! It works out at about £1million per MP.

If you have a keen eye, next time you’re at Westminster tube station look for the direct tunnel link to the Houses of Parliament. The entrance is located inside the ticket barriers on the Circle Line level.

Hmm, I have to say that I am not impressed with the protestors at today’s G20 demonstrations in the City.

“Money is for losers”, “Property is theft”, people hailing the death of Canary Wharf and the rise of Power to the People. Are these people deluded? I understand that many of the people protesting aren’t anarchists etc but there are a lot who are and it’s a real shame that they are so confused with reality. Although the banking system has collapsed now for many, many years it has helped lift people out of poverty, has made us all wealthier, has regained Britain’s power status and brought much talent and investment to the UK. OK it’s had a problem, but we can solve it. Their alternative I doubt they would even want if it happened in reality.

Plus what is it with stupid protestors violently smashing windows at the Royal Bank of Scotland?! That back is majority owned by the tax payer now and thus effectively they will have to pay for their own damage through higher taxes!

I wouldn’t say this is Financial Fool’s Day – more like Protesting Fool’s Day.

Today I had a walk around the perimeter of the Olympic Park. Not great weather for it but fascinating to view the largest construction site in Europe. Seems very efficient to me and very organised too. Here are a few photos of the Stadium progress…