What is The View from The Shard?
The View from The Shard is the new premium, multi-sensory visitor experience at The Shard – London’s newest landmark, Britain’s first vertical town and Western Europe’s tallest building at 310m (1,01,6ft). The visitor experience, which opened on 1st February, gets people immersed in London before they go up and see it. It’s the only place in the capital where you can see the entire city.
The street entrance and level 33 showcase the past, present and future of London through multimedia displays and installations. Two high-speed lifts take guests to level 33, then on to level 68 in just 30 seconds each. They then walk up to level 69 to take in the 360-degree, 64km (40 miles) view of London.
Guests can choose to go even higher to the full 244m at level 72, the highest public level of The Shard. The buildings’ fractures don’t come together – the corners are exposed and open – so the elements and atmosphere come in.
We’re working on a kind of sculpture that picks up and amplifies the sounds of the city and offers an audio experience. Guests who stand in that pool of sound pick up what’s going on in the city below. We aim to have this additional feature in place later this year.
What makes this view so special?
London isn’t a massively built up, vertical city, so when you’re up there you see rich layers of history and architecture.
Rather than just seeing rooftops, you go from the Tower of London, to the Gherkin, to St Paul’s. It’s all laid out for you. You don’t get that experience anywhere else. The Thames snaking out before you and the railroads tracks make it even more amazing. It’s fabulous.
Why are viewing platforms so appealing?
It’s an opportunity to go up an iconic structure and see your surroundings in a way that isn’t possible otherwise, other than renting a helicopter, which is out of the range of most people. There’s the thrill factor of the lift ride before getting out and seeing the city open up before you. Views are inspirational.
What are Tell:scopes?
Tell:scopes are high tech digital telescopes with LCD screens hooked up to a video lens. Guests can use the touchscreens to pinpoint up to 200 famous landmarks and places and find out more about them. They can also switch between the live view to a night time view or a perfect day, so if it’s hazy or cloudy they can still see a clear view.
The 12 Tell:scopes are positioned around the 68th floor so the city can be zoomed in on from different angles. Available in 10 languages, they’re highly adjustable so can come down to a child’s height or for a disabled person. Made by GSM in Montreal, they’re currently in Dubai, Asia, Canada and North America, but this is their first use in Europe.
Is there an app?
We’re working on an app that people can download to their smart device that will offer the same content as the Tell:scope.
The app will use the GPS in smart devices the same way the Tell:scope does, so people can walk around with it. We’ll charge a nominal fee and they can take the app home with them.
We’re talking with the Museum of London to use their archival footage and finding historical views of the city so you could look back to past views of the city.
What will be the operational challenges?
We’re going to be open from 9am til 10pm and will probably be moving around 300 people an hour through the attraction. All our tickets are timed so we have an obligation to people to deliver the experience at the booked time. That’ll be an ongoing challenge. If we have a problem with the lift, it’ll cut down our capability dramatically.
Who will the visitor be?
We think we’ll start off with 60 per cent domestic visitors, which will swing to 60 per cent tourists over the course of two or three years. Tens of thousands of tickets have been sold since July 2012.
We have space for 400 people an hour, but at any one time we only expect to have between 250 and 300 people up there, staying for an average of 45-minutes on the top floors. It’ll be three-quarters of our capacity and will be comfortable. We’re very confident that it won’t be crowded. Annually, we’re forecasting a million people.
There’s a great deal of local interest, as there isn’t anywhere like this and people have watched the building’s progress as it’s risen from the ground. We had a press launch in late October and the press we got was phenomenal. My favourite quote was: “If you think you can’t afford it, sell something.”
How many staff are there?
We’ve recruited 75 people who are part of the customer facing team. Staff are called guest ambassadors. They help with tickets, guest access and answering questions in the viewing gallery.
They’d had very extensive training in health and safety, technical training on ticketing and retail systems, human management training and grooming. The training structure is probably akin to a five-star hotel.
How is ticketing handled?
An average of 54 million people go through London Bridge a year.
At the main entrance to The View from The Shard, there are large screen boxes offering views from the top and digital signage tied in with our ticketing system inventory, so people can see what’s available before they come in, to set their expectations.
We’ve done everything we can to eliminate queuing. All tickets are dated and timed. There’s a price differential if you buy in advance. The ticketing is print at home, so many people will have an e-ticket. Those who don’t can collect their pre-booked tickets at pick-up stations. The system has been supplied by Omni Ticket and the tickets are read at speed gates.
What security is there?
People are more aware of security since 9/11. Now we have metal detectors and scanning machines. It’s a fact of life. We have several floors of corporate office, restaurants, a five-star hotel and high-end residences, so we have an obligation to keep all of that secure.
How was the ticket price decided?
We’ve done extensive market research. We’re creating a premium, up-market experience, with virtually no queues and we’re operating below capacity to ensure everyone has a great experience. All those things led to our market research audience pegging the price between £25 and £30, so we’re charging £24.99.
