Designed by the internationally renowned architect Renzo Piano & developed by Irvine Sellar The Shard is one of the worlds most striking new skyscrapers & is now at 310m the tallest building in Western Europe. From 1 February 2013 people will be able to visit The View" on floors 68 69 & 72 almost twice the height of any other viewing gallery in London from where they will experience a 360-degree 40-mile view over one of the worlds most historic & exciting cities. Organized spread by spread easy to navigate & as elegantly designed as the building itself the official guidebook sets The Shard in the context of Southwark one of the capitals most historic boroughs before outlining the design principles & construction story of the building. Also included are Q& As with both the architect & the developer & fascinating facts & stats relating to this extraordinary building. Central to the books purpose as the official guidebook are a series of twelve high-resolution double-page panoramic photographs of the views from The Shard (three per compass point: looking left looking right & looking down) each annotated to identify Londons key buildings monuments & landmarks. An informative souvenir for visitors to The Shard the book will also be available in the trade making it available to all Londoners & visitors to the capital."