The View from The Shard

One THIRD of people in Britain think London will be unrecognisable by 2030: 
results from the Future View from The Shard report revealed

• One in five Londoners think the capital would be better off as its own country
• 80% of people in Britain want more green space
• Major addition to The View from The Shard’s visitor experience as Futuristic panoramic view of London in the future is installed onto The View’s Digital Tell:scopes
• 2,000 polled
• To request images, please email theviewfromtheshard@kallaway.com

The View from The Shard, the highest viewing point in London, commissioned a survey to find out how the public think London’s skyline and urban society will change over the next 15 years – and the results have been staggering. From transport and climate through to architecture and politics, the Future View from The Shard Report explored a wide range of topics and issues and was commissioned to support the latest addition to the attraction’s state-of-the-art viewing galleries – a digital view of how London might look in 2030.

Key findings from the report include:

• 29% of people in the UK think that London will be unrecognisable by 2030. Londoners anticipate the biggest change in the Capital with 38% of those polled thinking the capital will be ‘unrecognisable’
• One in five Londoners think that London would be better off as its own country.
• People’s love for green living was reflected in the results with 80% of people in the UK wanting more green space and over 60% wanting more bikes on the roads than cars. Nearly 80% of people want Oxford Street to become pedestrianised.
• Joanna Lumley and Thomas Hetherwick’s plans for creating a Garden Bridge proved popular with more over half wanting it available by 2030.
• With regards to day-to-day living, half of people in Britain think that WiFi in London will be completely free and people will be constantly logged on.
• Nearly half of all Brits think that we will live in a cashless society.
• Over 5m people in the UK think there will be no Monarchy by 2030.
• 5m people think that London will be waterlogged like Venice (one in 10)

Key findings from the report will be available on The View from The Shard’s website  and will be supported by the futuristic view of what the capital might look like in 2030. Created by leading futurescasting company GMJ, the Futurescape takes into account approved planning applications in boroughs all over the capital, creating a striking window into how London’s future skyline might look. The futurescape is thought to be the most realistic take on what the future might look like and aims to include more than 100 new points of interest from The View from The Shard’s North, East, South and West views. Visitors will be able to compare London today with how it might look in the future via the state of the art interactive ‘Tell:scopes’. With the installation of views from the Museum of London’s archive earlier this year, the Tell:scopes will now enable visitors to view from 2030 back to Roman times.

Clive Stephens, CEO of The View from The Shard, said: “With the highest view over one of the best cities in the world, there is really no better place to think about what the future holds for our society. Our guests visit The View from The Shard to learn more about the capital and with the potential to now see what London might look like in the future, The View really is an ideal first stop for international visitors and a place for Londoners to watch their city change.”

World leading Future Illustration Studio GMJ, who created The View of London in 2030 said :“It’s an incredible time for London with new projects planned and emerging right across the city and there’s no better place to appreciate how the skyline is going to change than from the top of the Shard. This initiative gets the public directly involved in the debate about the kind of city we want and are about to get. It shows people how the skyline will change and tells them about each project in detail.

For us it’s a huge task. Our aim is to add as many new and significant projects to each view. We want to use this release and launch as a ‘call out’ to developers and architects to provide us with the information we need to add more and more projects to this and the other views.”

As part of the attraction’s new programme of futurecasting activity, a series of exclusive literary events exploring themes around architecture, design and society will begin on 17 September. The first event will be hosted by Angela Brady, former President of RIBA. Guest speakers will include Roma Agrawal, the engineer who designed the foundations and spire for the Shard, who will champion the role of the engineer in London's future development, Leo Hollis, author of Cities Are Good for You, who will consider the impact of tall buildings and how the invention of the passenger lift has transformed the landscape of our cities and Liza Fior, founder of muf architects, who will explore innovative design in London's public spaces, in line with the practice's work in Hackney Wick, Mile End and Whitechapel. Book tickets here: https://billetto.co.uk/events/54189

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Notes to editors 
The research was conducted by Censuswide, with 2,001 respondents aged 16+ in GB between 26.08.2014 – 01.09.2014.  The survey was conducted from a random sample of UK adults.  Censuswide abide by and employ members of the Market Research Society which is based on the ESOMAR principles. 

Where a statistic is stated as a number rather than a percentage, this has been calculated from the ONS population figures from the 2012 Census. 

Media contacts

Stacey Wright staceywright@theviewfromtheshard.com  / 020 3102 1699

The View from The Shard Picture Library: http://bit.ly/1cv8czT

The View from The Shard is the new premium attraction at the top of The Shard, London’s newest landmark.  The View from The Shard is the highest vantage point in Western Europe and the only place where it is possible to see all of London all at once. For more information and to book tickets visitwww.theviewfromtheshard.com

About GMJ
Since founding in 1990, GMJ has become a leading force in the production of high-resolution photomontage imagery. Their innovations continue to shape the industry, pioneering verified planning process. Continuing to challenge and test the limits of visualisation, they designed and created the celebrated UK launch cover for ‘WIRED Magazine’, ‘‘Your Life In The Future’ (2009), created ‘Postcards From the Future’ (iconic ‘postcard’ views of London transformed using the visual language of climate change to create provocative images) exhibited in large formats at Museum of London (2010). GMJ founding partners are Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones.

Booking information: Tickets and gift certificates can be booked in advance online atwww.theviewfromtheshard.com or via telephone at 0844 499 7111 (booking fee applies for telephone bookings only). Advance tickets are priced at £24.95 for adults or £18.95 for children.

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