It’s not quite what Wren had in mind... Shard towers over St Paul's
When plans for the Shard of Glass were first considered a decade ago, conservationists described it as a "spike through the heart" of heritage London.
Critics today claimed the warning has come true.
A photograph taken from Parliament Hill — one of six protected panoramas — shows how Europe's tallest building dramatically compromises views of London's greatest landmark, St Paul's Cathedral.
An English Heritage spokeswoman said: "We must ask if the colossal impact of this building will be celebrated in 300 years' time, as Wren's masterpiece continues to be today.
"We maintain that location is all. Southwark deserves investment but it should not come at the expense of one of London's most precious, and finite, assets — its heritage."
The £400 million Shard is almost double the height of Sir Christopher Wren's masterpiece even before its completion in the summer of next year.
Its "topping out" ceremony last month was celebrated as the central core of the giant glass pyramid reached 72 storeys. It will stand 1,016 feet (310 metres) when completed.
The tower will have 44 lifts and be topped by a four-floor viewing gallery which will be open to the public. A new concourse and a piazza will be complete by 2013 and will link it to London Bridge station.
Devised by property magnate Irvine Sellar and designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano, it was enthusiastically supported by Ken Livingstone as Mayor. He even ordered Transport for London to take a reported £13.5 million a year lease on office space to help its funding. The Shard was eventually approved by John Prescott after a public inquiry.
But it was opposed by English Heritage, which complained to the public inquiry about an "unequivocal, major and detrimental impact" on protected views of the cathedral from Parliament Hill and Kenwood and a "negative intrusion" on two world heritage sites, the Tower of London and Palace of Westminster.
Rules overseen by the Mayor protect six views of central London — from Alexandra Palace, Parliament Hill, Kenwood, Primrose Hill, Greenwich Park and Blackheath Point. According to the London View Management Framework, developments "should provide an appropriate setting for strategically important landmarks by not crowding in too close to them and by not contributing to a canyon effect either side of the protected vista".
Martin Stancliffe, Surveyor to the Fabric of St Paul's Cathedral, said: "We raised our concerns about the effect of the scale of the Shard on St Paul's in this iconic view at the public inquiry but our objection was over-ruled. This photograph demonstrates that our concerns were well-founded."
