The 95-story supertall skyscraper called The Shard was designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano and sits at 309.7 m (1,016 ft) height, making it the tallest building in the UK. The construction commenced in February 2009 and in December 2011 became the tallest building in the European Union, despite the structure not being finished yet. It was completed in in November 2012 and cost around £435,023,452.