Drilling down to reach new heights

05 July 2012

D-Drill helped lay the foundations for the tallest building in Europe, which has been unveiled today.

But while D-Drill played its part in the creation of The Shard in London, it has also worked on one of its Russian rivals that will become Europe’s tallest building when it is opened in 2013.

At 1,016 feet tall, The Shard includes offices, a hotel, restaurant, apartments and a viewing gallery and D-Drill was called in at the beginning of the project in 2009 to drill down 60 feet into a disused underground rail tunnel as part of the structural preparations.

Julie White, managing director of D-Drill, said she was delighted to help create the European record high building in London but has also had a key role in the creation of Vostok in Moscow which will eventually dwarf The Shard when it is completed next year.

It will stand at a colossal 1,660 feet and that is thanks in no small part to D-Drill’s work in piling down around 100 feet to provide the foundations.

She said: “It’s fantastic to see The Shard opening and I am so pleased to be able to say that we helped to make it happen when we were part of the structural preparations back in 2009.

“It’s a wonderful building and an amazing addition to the London skyline.

“But we have also worked on its big ‘rival’ in Moscow. The building wasn’t originally planned to be so tall but when they discovered how high The Shard was going to be, they decided to start again and go higher.

“That meant the foundations needed to go further and because of our expertise, they called in D-Drill to go across and we went down to depths of around 100 feet.

“It’s fantastic for D-Drill to have played a part in both.”

Back to news