The Shard rises 310 metres above London Bridge, a splinter of glass so tall it occasionally vanishes into low cloud. Renzo Piano's design was meant to evoke a church spire, though locals have compared it to everything from a stiletto heel to a giant ice lolly. When it opened in 2012, it became Western Europe's tallest building, a title it still holds.

From the observation decks on floors 69 and 72, you can see for forty miles on a clear day. The building sits above London Bridge Station, its base a tangle of railway lines that have served the capital since Victorian times.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours approach The Shard from Borough Market and the riverside, tracing the transformation of this corner of Southwark from medieval waypoint to glass-and-steel landmark, explaining how a building designed to look incomplete became one of London's most recognisable silhouettes.