At 1,016 feet high, it's Europe's tallest building, it's along the River Thames in Southwark in London and it's been twelve years in the making. And tonight - to mark the completion of the outside of the building - The Shard will be inaugurated to great fanfare.

Check out this time-lapse video of the 95 storey-high Shard (so-called because as the Italian designer planned it he thought looked like a huge glass splinter). And apparently once you get out of the high-speed lifts that zoom you up to the top, you will be able to get views of 40 miles or so on a clear day. Critics claim The Shard is a symbol of greed and developers are fooling themselves if they think they'll sell or rent all the units.

At a press conference Irvine Sellar says it's impressive – well he would say that.

Tonight The Shard will be inaugurated by The Duke of York and the Prime Minister of Qatar (well the country's national bank has put in most of the cold hard development cash for it). Then at 10pm it'll be lit up by 12 lasers and 30 search lights, all to let everyone know that from Friday tickets go on sale so you can book in to see it for yourself. Doors open on February the 1<sup>st next year. And there's a charge of £24.95 to adults and £18.95 to children for the privilege, so maybe doing this job might be the best way to see it for free?