The Shard, London

At 72 storeys, The Shard is the UK’s tallest building and is so named because of its slender, spire-like shape covered with facets of angled glazing that intend to reflect light and the changing patterns of the sky.

At the building’s heart is a high-performance concrete core, which utilised an innovative use of top-down construction with concrete that achieved 30 MPa cube strength within just 24 hours.

Levels 40 to 72, which include the luxury hotel and residences, were constructed using post-tensioned concrete on high strength (C65/80) concrete columns which offered both material efficiency as well as superior occupant comfort.

The concrete used within the extensive foundations contains a cement blend using 70% ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS) to limit early heat gain and to increase the building’s sustainability credentials.