The Shard

The Shard, with its church steeple and cladded shards of glass, is the inspiration and design of Renzo Piano, the project’s architect. At 95-storeys and standing 309.6 metres (1,016 ft) high, The Shard (‘Shard of Glass’) is the tallest building in the UK – a top-down construction project that required the largest continuous concrete pour in UK history; three concrete pumps placed 700 truckloads over 36 hours; a total of 5,500 m. While the extremely thick basement slab did not require waterproofing, Xypex Admix was used to waterproof and protect other areas of the basement as well as the capping beams and lift pits on various floors. Xypex was also used to waterproof the Shangri-La Hotel swimming pool and spa area on the 52nd floor. In all, approximately 7,500 kg of Xypex material was used to treat 1,000 m³ of concrete.