Mini Shard Protest update

Honestly? Southern Trains caused a huge amount more disruption and fuss today...

...this lot will be lucky if anyone even notices, especially when the hoard starts to pour around them on the big commute home again...on a normal day there are more people sat there having a smoke than there are people protesting today...bit of an anti-climax really...

Protest at the Mini Shard 23rd March

Yep, so a bit worried what the office would be like this morning (as there is an "Occupy" protest due to happen this week, starting today)...

...the answer?  A bit of scaffolding around the escalators covered in anti-climb paint, a bit of glue on the windows (I guess to make it easy to remove any spray paint/permanent marker pens), a *lot* more security guards and a lot more police...and basically nothing else!

I guess it's tough to get up early in the morning and commute to a protest eh?

Update - According to Facebook it's at 11:30am that they plan to "Take  the space"...let's see what happens! ;)

Update update - You can watch the protest live here - http://bambuser.com/v/5372441 (their cameras)

Eclipse pictures from London Shard 2015

So we all gathered on the terrace on the 14th floor to have a look and see what (if anything) we could see of the eclipse...(it was very cold and super windy up there - and I didn't bring my coat so I didn't want to stay long) -

- and actually it did get really quite dark, it was definitely twilight, all the buses and taxis put on their headlights, looking out over London you could see loads of other groups of people gathered on rooftops -

- but thanks to that "toxic smog" from Russian factories, the actual sun itself was completely impossible to pin point (bit of a shame) -

- oh well, there is always 2090! ;)

December 1st...!

Wow...how did we get to December already?  Things are starting to get distinctly festive in London, the Shard has started to get glittery, the Salvation Army brass band was in London Bridge station playing a selection of Christmas hits this morning and a small(ish) tree -

-  (with what appear to be temporary decorations) has appeared outside the News Building (you can see where someone tried to put the lights up and then threw them on the ground in frustration)... ;)

Still, I think we have about 90% of the Christmas shopping is done (a couple of gifts and the food to go), so this year, with a bit of luck we will be able to relax into it - if my last couple of bits of holiday are approved today then my Christmas break begins in two and a half weeks...! ;)

Bring it on...!

14th Floor open!

...and Wow!  Just need some cash on my lunch card now!



...around the corners -





- real books in the book wall!  And then outside onto the new terrace -




Astonishingly cool... ;)

Welcome to the News Building...

...(or "Return to Southwark!")...tried to get my head around a better journey into town today (now having absolutely no onward journey to worry about from London Bridge), discovered that my later train is an express train (and thus was full and standing - *groan*)...so that is still a work in progress...anyway, had a nice cup of tea in St Thomas Street waiting for my free breakfast time to arrive - as I was quite early -

- when I got there we were already being asked to gather our things ready for our induction(!), so I grabbed a slightly warm (but very tasty) bacon sandwich (and a glug of water), and then we were on our way to reception...

- and up in the lifts after we had been pass upgraded (there are 6 lifts serving the core of the building, all with no buttons inside, so you choose your destination before you get in and the lifts tell you which letter you want to join - same as the last office, actually) -

- as you can see, there isn't a huge amount of choice at the moment, most of the office is still a building site, after all...

Anyway, up on the 13th floor (which is almost finished) - we have lots and lots of hot desks -

- collaborative spaces -

- (of all sorts of shapes and sizes) -

- and beautiful new kitchens (intermittently topped up with fresh fruit and pastries) -

- and a (somehow rather familiar) lighting decoration above one of the newspaper carousels (thank goodness it isn't right in front of any of the desks, or they might be a bit unpopular with migraine sufferers)...!

All in all - Amazing so far!  Guess I'll post some of the views from the windows later on (when the sun comes out)...but the office itself is very swish and everything smells, well, new! ;)

Last day in Wapping...

...so it's goodbye Shuttle bus and thanks for all the lifts!  I've managed just over one year working in Wapping, some of my colleagues have been here almost 30 years(!), so while it's a bit odd (and exciting) for me, it's as nothing to the feeling of upheaval some others are going through!  Once we leave the building this afternoon (things are starting to shut down around 3pm) our door entry cards will stop working...next stop "The Place" (or "The News Building" as it will be known) on Monday morning (for a free breakfast, to find my locker, have a tour of the facilities - and then find somewhere to sit)!  Just got to pack the last few things into my crate, ready for my new (flexible) working life!

Sun re-branding...

- spotted on the newsagent right opposite the Shard in Bridge Walk... ;)

Watching the Shard being built...

...and then moving there (well into the baby version anyway)! Wow - the Shard was *small* back then!!  Anyway, tomorrow, assuming I can get a train into London from Earlswood early enough for the start of the session at 0745 (just a clue - that's a no - going to have to get a cab into Redhill to catch a different train if I want to make it) -

- I can participate in one of our office's "Shard Event"s (there are so many people involved I think they are going on all week long) but my place is booked for tomorrow morning -

- we assemble for breakfast on the 22nd floor (so same sort of height I used to work at in Canary Wharf) and then get a load of presentations regarding our relocation later in the year (progress/strategy/integration and a background/orientation session from the property group responsible for the London Bridge Quarter structures) -

- and then last but not least a trip up to the viewing platform (hope it's clear weather like today)!

Really looking forward to it, will need to make sure I charge the Canon ready for the morning! ;)

Secret Entrance to the Baby Shard?

Snapped this morning (behind some sheeting) from the tunnel near the entrance to the tube at London Bridge...could this be the first glimpse of the new shopping arcade under "The Place"? ;)

Barriers down at the Baby Shard!

So now you can (pretty much) walk right up to the building...

(the windows could do with a bit of a clean)! ;)

Wonder where these escalators go?  Guess it won't be long until I can take a sneaky trip down there! :)

Mini Shard & Maxi Shard

(My new office - well, as of next year, once they fit it all out beautifully)...

Both structures looking *rather* fetching today... ;)  Or perhaps you prefer a portrait shot of the Shard? Does sort of deserve it, I suppose...Gives more of an impression of scale (but *loads* less context)...tough call... ;)