Twelve lasers and 30 searchlights lit up the sky last night to celebrate the inauguration of The Shard - the tallest building in Western Europe.

The Green lasers and streams of light beamed out from the 95 story building - which is 1,016ft high - on London鈥檚 Southbank.

Mace, the contractor on the tower, is now working to an extended practical completion deadline for the project

the original practical completion date of May, well ahead of the London 2012 Olympics, had been been extended beyond the Games.

Kamran Moazami, head of building structures at Shard engineer WSP, hailed the inauguration as a milestone for 鈥渃utting-edge engineering鈥�.

He saidL 鈥淭he Shard presented a number of unique engineering challenges, the solutions to which have set precedents that will influence engineering for generations.

鈥淔rom controlling the sway of the tower in the wind for the comfort of its occupants, to minimising the weight of the materials used to cut costs and carbon, it has been one of the most extraordinary journeys in structural design this century.

鈥淭his building is a 21st century icon for cutting-edge engineering, and will be a legacy for centuries to come.鈥�

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