The Shard relaunches Western Europe’s highest light show
The Shard’s Christmas lights are back with a bang this evening, transforming the top 20 storeys of the skyscraper into a festive light show.
This year’s Shard Lights display sees London’s tallest building host a colourful 30-minute show running every half an hour from 4pm to 1am.
The light show is based on the theme of ‘reflection’ and and mirrors the sky’s changing colours, from golden sunrises to the dark blue of the night sky.
The display, which is the highest in Western Europe, will run throughout December, culminating in a special New Year’s Eve celebration at midnight.
Michael Baker, chief executive of Real Estate Management (REM), which manages the Shard, said: “The festive season is always a highlight of the year for the capital, and as a beacon for modern London, we wanted to do something special to mark this period.
“As Western Europe’s highest light show, we encourage Londoners and visitors to the city to look up and admire the night sky.”
More than 4,000 hours of work were needed to commission, install and test the lights on the building.
The display uses over 8,000m of cable, equivalent to the length of 956 double-decker buses.