London has been something of a building site for the best part of a decade as developers and businesses build and build and build. An increasing population, further centralisation of wealth and industry, has led to more and more buildings. They cannot get wider, so they must grow taller. What are the results of this race to the clouds? Many things — some good and some bad. There are records to be broken. Highest office. Highest restaurant. Highest axe-throwing bar.
The highest outdoor swimming pool is now in London Bridge, in case you were keeping tabs on that particular category. Swimming pools in this city can be something of a bone of contention. It wasn’t that long ago that the floating pool in the Nine Elms development got people very upset. The one at Shard Place in London Bridge thankfully is not suspended over the common man of the street, and is therefore not vulgar. Nobody wants to see you doing laps 100ft in the air while they are on their way to work.
So how high is the pool? That is the key question. It is on the roof of the building, which is 27 storeys high, so we estimate that it is some 290ft in the sky. The views, unsurprisingly given the height as well as the pool’s location in prime SE1, are sensational. Can the passing public see you swimming around? They cannot, because the pool does not have a glass bottom and is therefore private. Privacy equals elegance.
Elegance is a key theme of the Shard Place development. Designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, which created the neighbouring Shard, the building contains 176 apartments, ranging from studios to three-bedroom units, all furnished by State of Craft and with sensational views.
Amenities include a private dining room (with a bookable private chef), a 15-seat cinema, wellness suite (I believe we used to call these gyms, but who knows) and a delightful south-facing terrace.
It is, of course, in a prime location. London Bridge and Borough Market are on the literal doorstep, and Jubilee and Northern line links can get you around the rest of London in a flash. I would personally just stay in the pool though, floating in blissful privacy, higher than anyone else.
Apartments at Shard Place are available to rent from £700 per week.
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