The Shard's luxury hotel opening has been delayed 6 months

The Shangri-La hotel at the Shard skyscraper in London's grand opening has been put postponed by at least six months, due to fit-out delays. Delays to the £40m fit-out programme of the 202-room hotel - situated between floors 34 and 52 of the tower has pushed the opening date back. Sisk Group is the contractor on the job, Sweett Group is contract administrator and Gardiner & Theobald is quantity surveyor. Shangri-La declined to comment on the reasons for the delay, but confirmed it had pushed back its planned opening date to the fourth quarter of 2013. Several windows surrounding the hotel entrance (pictured) on St Thomas Street in London Bridge are still emblazoned with the original opening date. The five-star hotel - which Shangri-La says will bring a “uniquely Asian view of service” to London - includes three dining venues, a gym with infinity pool and meeting and events facilities. The hotel takes up the middle third of the Shard, with the lowest third taken up by offices and the top third private apartments, crowned by a public viewing gallery. The first leisure venue at the Shard, the 32nd-floor Oblix restaurant, opened last month, with two further restaurants, 33rd-floor Hutong and 31st-floor Aqua Shard, opening this month and next respectively. Most of the Shard’s 590,000ft2 of office space is still available, although financial services firm Duff & Phelps took the first letting of 18,000 ft2 on the 22nd floor last month. The Shard hotel is part of Shangri-La’s global expansion drive. A Shangri-La spokesperson said: “With every major hotel opening delays can occur. We look forward to being able to communicate the confirmed opening date in due course.” - See more at: http://www.watco.co.uk/blog/the-shards-luxury-hotel-opening-has-been-delayed-by-6-months#sthash.bhiNge1x.dpuf