User:Khan Tengri/sandbox3

Chan Tengri - szczyt w masywie Tengirtoo w systemie górskim Tienszanu na granicy Chin, Kazachstanu i Kirgistanu, ok. 18 na północ od Szczytu Zwycięstwa. Wznosi się na wysokość 6995 m n.p.m. (7010 m np.m. z pokrywą śnieżną i lodową) i jest najwyższym szczytem KazACHSTANU, a także drugim pod względem wysokości szczytem Kirgistanu oraz całego systemu Tienszanu. Kształtem zbliżony jest do piramidy. Zbocze południowe wznosi pod kątem ok 40-45 stopni i jest łagodniejsze od zbocza północnego, które wznosi się pod kątem ok. 60 stopni.

The Shard, także Shard of Glass, Shard London Bridge , dawniej London Bridge Tower, - 95-piętrowy wieżowiec w Londynie, w Wielkiej Brytanii. Jego budowa rozpoczęła się w marcu 2009 roku; planowaną wysokość osiągnął 30 marca 2012 roku, a jego oficjalne otwarcie nastąpiło 5 July 2012 roku 1 lutego 2013 roku budynek został udostępniony dla zwiedzających  Mając 309,6 m wysokości wieżowiec jest najwyższym budynkiem w Unii Europejskiem i drugim pod względem wysokości w Europie, ustępując jedynie Mercury City Tower w Moskwie. The Shard jest takżę drugą pod względem wysokości konstrukcją w Wielkiej Brytanii, za Emley Moor TV Tower.

The Shard powstał w dzielnicy Southwark na miejscu Southwark Towers, 24-piętrowego biurowca wzniesionego w 1975 roku. The Shard został zaprojektowany przez Renzo Piano we współpracy z firmą architektoniczną Broadway Malyan. Piramidalny, pokryty szkłem wieżowiec posiada 72 piętra with a viewing gallery and open-air observation deck – the UK's highest – on the 72nd floor, at a height of 245 m.

Planning
The Shard was designed in 2000 by Renzo Piano, an Italian architect previously best known for creating Paris’s Pompidou Centre in collaboration with Britain’s Richard Rogers. That year, the London-based entrepreneur Irvine Sellar decided to redevelop Southwark Towers, a 1970s office block next to London Bridge station, and flew to Berlin in March 2000 to meet Piano for lunch. According to Sellar, the architect spoke of his contempt for tall buildings during the meal, before flipping over the restaurant’s menu and sketching an iceberg-like sculpture emerging from the River Thames. He was inspired by the railway lines next to the site, the London spires depicted by the 18th-century Venetian painter Canaletto, and the masts of sailing ships.

In July 2002, the then-Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, ordered a planning inquiry after the Shard development plans were opposed by local authorities and heritage bodies, including the Royal Parks Foundation and English Heritage. The inquiry took place in April and May 2003, and on 19 November 2003, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister announced that construction had been approved. The government released a letter stating that:

"'Mr Prescott would only approve skyscrapers of exceptional design. For a building of this size to be acceptable, the quality of its design is critical. He is satisfied that the proposed tower is of the highest architectural quality.'" The developers – CLS Holdings plc, Sellar Property Group, and CN Ltd (acting for the Halabi Family Trust) – secured an interim funding package of £196 million in September 2006 from the Nationwide Building Society and Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander. This enabled them to pay off the costs already incurred and to buy out the Southwark Towers occupational lease from the tenants, PricewaterhouseCoopers. Vacant possession of the site was secured a year later, after PricewaterhouseCoopers completed the relocation of their operations.

In September 2007, preparations for the demolition of Southwark Towers began. However, later in the month, turbulence in the financial markets reportedly put the construction in jeopardy, threatening to render the project an example of the Skyscraper Index. Later that month, it was reported that the Halabi Family Trust, one of the main backers of the project, had been forced to sell its stake.

In November 2007, building contractor Mace was awarded the contract to build the Shard for a fixed price of no more than £350 million. However, this price increased to almost £435 million in October 2008.

In April 2008, demolition of Southwark Towers was visibly under way, with scaffolding and white sheeting covering the building, and by October, Southwark Towers had been substantially reduced in height, and was no longer visible on the skyline. The building's demolition was completed in early 2009, and site preparation began for the construction of the Shard.

Funding
In late 2007, the gathering uncertainty in the global financial markets sparked concerns about the viability of the project. The Shard's construction was almost cancelled, but in January 2008, it was announced that a consortium of Qatari investors had paid £150 million to secure an 80% stake and take control of the project. The new owners promised to provide the first tranche of finance, allowing construction of the tower to begin. The consortium included Qatar National Bank, QInvest, Qatari Islamic Bank and the Qatari developer Barwa Real Estate. The deal involved a buyout of the Halabi and CLS Holdings stakes, and part of the Sellar Property stake.

According to one of the tower's developers, the Shard and its neighbouring building, the Place, may together be worth up to £2.5 billion when they are fully leased.

Project management
Turner & Townsend was designated the project manager for the London Bridge Quarter development. Its involvement covered the Shard and London Bridge Place, and also included the infrastructure works around London Bridge rail and bus stations. Townshend Landscape Architects Ltd was contracted to landscape the London Bridge Quarter site. Asta Development contributed a planning software module to link with the tower's 3D CAD model, allowing project engineers to visualise the Shard's construction throughout the project timeline and identify potential construction flaws.

Architecture
Renzo Piano, the project's architect, met criticism from English Heritage, who claimed the building would be "a shard of glass through the heart of historic London", giving the building its name, the Shard. Piano considered the slender, spire-like form of the tower a positive addition to the London skyline, recalling the church steeples featured in historic engravings of the city, and believed that its presence would be far more delicate than opponents of the project alleged. He proposed a sophisticated use of glazing, with expressive façades of angled glass panes intended to reflect sunlight and the sky above, so that the appearance of the building will change according to the weather and seasons. The building features 11,000 panes of glass, with a total surface area of 56000 m2.

Following the destruction of the World Trade Center (WTC) in the terror attacks of 11 September 2001, architects and structural engineers worldwide began re-evaluating the design of tall structures. The Shard's early conceptual designs were among the first in the UK to be progressed following the publication of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) report into the collapse of the WTC. The building was designed to maintain its stability under very onerous conditions.

The Shard contains premium office space, a hotel, luxury residences, retail space, restaurants, a five-storey public viewing gallery, and a spa. The public viewing gallery is located between the 68th and 72nd floors, with its highest section at a height of 245 m, and is expected to draw over two million visitors a year; its adult entry fee is £24.95. In addition, a shorter building, known as London Bridge Place, will be built nearby, replacing the former London Bridge House and completing the London Bridge Quarter development.

In addition to the tower, major improvements are underway in the London Bridge rail and Tube station and the surrounding area, as part of a Section 106 legal agreement. These improvements include a new public concourse, a public piazza, a museum, and local housing and regeneration programmes. In May 2012, the Shard's developers pledged to offer 300 jobs in the tower and its environs for unemployed locals.

Layout
Source: Shard London Bridge brochure, 2010

Power supply
The Shard was designed with energy efficiency in mind. It is fitted with a combined heat and power (CHP) plant, operating on natural gas. The gas engine is fuelled by gas originating from the National Grid. Fuel is efficiently converted to electricity and heat is recovered from the engine to provide hot water for the building.

2009
In February 2009, a mobile crane and a small piling rig appeared on site. In early March 2009, the crane began putting steel beams into the ground, as part of preparations for the core of the building. Full construction began on 16 March 2009. Demolition work on New London Bridge House started in May 2009, as part of the concurrent London Bridge Place project. The first steelwork went into the Shard's piles on 27 April.

Five cranes were used to build the Shard, with four of them 'jumping' with the tower as it rose. Crane 1 was erected in September 2009 and Crane 2 was erected at the beginning of October. By 20 October 2009, steel beams began appearing on site, with concrete being poured at the northern part of the site, ready for Crane 3.

2010
By March 2010, the concrete core was rising steadily at approximately 3 m a day. After a pause in March–April 2010, it continued rising, reaching the 33rd floor in mid-June, almost level with the top of Guy's Hospital, which stands at 143 m. On 27 July 2010, the core stopped rising, having reached the 38th floor, and was reconfigured for further construction.

By mid-November 2010, the core had reached the 68th floor, with the tower's steel reaching the 40th floor and glass cladding enveloping a third of the building. In late November, the core's height exceeded 235 m, ending One Canada Square's 18-year reign as Britain's tallest building.

2011
The Shard's concrete core topped out at the 72nd floor in early 2011, standing at 245 m. The early part of January 2011 saw the installation of hydraulic screens, which were used to form the concrete floors of the hotel and apartment section of the tower, and rose with the floors up to the 69th floor. On 25 January 2011, the concrete pumps began pouring the first concrete floor at the 41st floor. By the end of February 2011, concrete flooring had risen to the 46th floor, with a new floor being poured on average every week. The cladding of the structure also progressed, mainly on the tower's "backpack".

August 2011 saw steady progress in construction, with cladding enveloping more than half the building's exterior. Pouring of the concrete floors reached the 67th floor, and progression on the tower's cladding reached the 58th floor. By mid-August, the core box had been removed. By 19 September 2011, the tower's steel was approaching the height of the completed core, reaching almost 244 m. On 24 September, a final crane – at the time, the tallest ever built in Britain – was erected to install the skyscraper's upper spire. The spire was pre-fabricated and pre-assembled based upon 3D models, and underwent a "test run" in Yorkshire before being lifted onto the building itself. By late December 2011, the Shard had become the tallest building in the European Union, superseding the Commerzbank Tower in Frankfurt, Germany.

2012
The Shard's steel structure was topped out on 30 March 2012, when its 66 m, 500-tonne spire was winched into place. The steel structure thus reached a height of 308.5 m. The final 516 panes of glass were added shortly after, topping the tower out at its full height of 309.6 m.

The Shard was formally opened on 5 July 2012 by the Prime Minister of Qatar, Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, in a ceremony attended by Prince Andrew, Duke of York. The opening ceremony featured a large laser light show, comprising twelve lasers and 30 searchlights, which illuminated the building on the London skyline. The Shard was opened with all its office floors unlet. Its observation deck opened to the public in February 2013.

Height
Standing 309.6 m at its highest point, and 308.5 m at the highest point of its steelwork, the Shard became the tallest building in the European Union in December 2011, and the tallest completed building in Europe on 30 March 2012. It thus surpassed Frankfurt's Commerzbank Tower, which, at 259 m, was Europe's tallest building between 1997 and 2005. Thereafter, the Shard successively exceeded the heights of three Moscow skyscrapers, the Triumph-Palace, Naberezhnaya Tower, and City of Capitals, each of which had held the European height record for roughly 2.5 years. However, upon its completion in November 2012, Moscow's 339 m Mercury City Tower replaced the Shard as the tallest in Europe. The Shard may eventually be surpassed as the EU's tallest building by the 323 m Hermitage Plaza building, which is planned to be completed in La Défense, Paris, in 2017.

The Shard is the second-tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, after the 330 m concrete transmission tower at Emley Moor. Another London skyscraper, the Pinnacle, was originally proposed to rival the height of the Shard. However, because of concerns from the Civil Aviation Authority, the height of the Pinnacle was later reduced to 288 m.

Tenancy
In February 2013, it was reported that the developers of the Shard were in negotiations to secure the first tenants of the building's 25 floors of office space. Potential tenants include financial restructuring specialists Duff & Phelps, South Hook LNG Company, and the broadcaster Al Jazeera.

BASE jumping and climbing
In December 2011, a group of trespassers – the self-styled Place Hackers – evaded security and made their way to the top of the Shard building site, climbing one of the tallest cranes in the process. They later posted photographs of the London skyline taken from the top of the Shard on the Internet.

In April 2012, it was revealed that numerous teams of "urban explorers" had climbed the Shard during its construction. Others had BASE jumped from the building more than a dozen times in the previous three years. Four jumps were reportedly made by Essex roofer Dan Witchalls, who had filmed one attempt with a helmet-mounted camera. The highest jump was said to have been from a height of 850 ft.

On 3 September 2012, a team of 40 people, including Prince Andrew, Duke of York, abseiled from the tower's 87th floor. This feat was performed to raise money for the Outward Bound Trust and the Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund. In November 2012, the French urban climber Alain Robert was spotted in the building by security guards. At the end of the month, the Shard's owners won an injunction to prevent him from entering or climbing the building.

In popular culture

 * The Shard appears in the 2012 short film The Snowman and The Snowdog and its tie-in videogame.
 * The Shard will appear in the 2013 Doctor Who episode "The Bells of St John".