An image of how the light and laser show will look during the inauguration of The Shard

With London’s – and Europe’s – new tallest building set to be officially unveiled tonight with a spectacular laser show visible across the capital, here are some facts and figures about The Shard.

- The Shard is 1,016ft (309.6m) high.

- The building reached its top height on June 19.

- It has 11,000 glass panels.

- The area of the glass facade is 602,779 ft squared (56,000m squared), which equals eight football pitches.

- There are 44 lifts, including double-decker lifts.

- There are 306 flights of stairs.

- The total floor space is 31.4 acres.

- 95 per cent of the construction materials are recycled.

- 20 per cent of all the steelwork is from recycled sources.

- The design was influenced by the irregular nature of the site.

- Each facet forms a shard, a plane of glass gently inclined inwards, rising towards the top.

- The corners of the development are open and the shards do not touch, allowing the building to “breathe”.

- There are 72 occupiable floors.

- A further 15 levels will make up the “spire”. Six have the potential to be used, while another nine are exposed to the elements.

- The ground floor Shard Plaza will be a public area with seating and planting.

- The second floor will be a 5,000 sq ft retail space will a variety of retail units opening out onto the concourse of London Bridge Station.

- The fourth to 28th floors will have 595,000 sq ft of office and winter gardens.

- The 31st to 33rd floors will have 29,000 sq ft of international restaurants, centred around a triple height atrium.

- The 34th to 52nd floors will house the Shangri-La Hotel and Spa, with 200 luxuriously appointed rooms across have 192,000 sq ft.

- The 53rd to 65th floors will have 10 exclusive residences with 360 degree views across London over a total of 62,000 sq ft.

- The 68th to 72nd floors will be the public observation galleries. The 15,000 sq ft View from The Shard will open in February 2013.

- The Shard is the tallest building in Europe.

- It is the 59th tallest building in the world, around 2.7 times shorter than the tallest, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which is 2,717ft high.