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back to article Ofcom pricks Shard's 'biggest erection' boast

Ofcom, the UK's telecommunications regulator, has told the company raising London's latest erection, the Shard, that two of the country's tallest TV transmission masts stand more proudly skyward than the so-called "vertical city" does. The 'Shard-on', designed by famed Italian architect Renzo Piano and currently under …

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  1. fixit_f
    Thumb Up

    I go past this every day on the train

    I love the way they pre-fab buildings now and put them together like Meccano - that thing literally gets bigger in front of your eyes.

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  2. Vladimir Plouzhnikov

    Confused

    "Emley Moor is the tallest free-standing building in Europe"

    Ostankino Tower in Moscow is also freestanding and is 540m tall and the last time I checked Moscow was still in Europe...

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    1. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      These days...

      ..."Europe" is often used as shorthand for "The European Union", as opposed to the European continent. I know Moscow can get cold, but I think Lucifer himself would be donning the thermal underwear before Russia joins the EU.

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      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        In that case

        At 368m, the Fernsehturm in Berlin is still taller than anything in the UK.

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  3. MJI Silver badge
    Joke

    There is a song about Emley Moor and hats

    as title

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    1. some vaguely opinionated bloke
      Reply Icon
      Coat

      You may be thinking of...

      ... the wrong moor. I have it on good authority that ducks do not play football on Emley Moor.

      Ee, coat, wer 'ast thee bin since a saw thee?

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  4. MJI Silver badge

    Emley jamming station

    Actually I am not a fan of this transmitter, can someone please knock out its analogue transmissions as they jam Sutton Coldfields digital transmissions.

    Get some Tropospheric ducting and say goodby to TV reception.

    But I once picked up the Newcastle transmitter for a couple of I frames.

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  5. hplasm
    Happy

    So Ofcom

    are not completely useless, then?

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  6. Liam Johnson

    Size

    The shard is satisfyingly thick at the base in comparison though.

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  7. Chris Miller
    Happy

    Those who obsess about such things

    like to distinguish between freestanding 'buildings' and 'structures', with the latter consisting of mostly habitable space - offices/flats/hotel rooms*. So the Shard will be the tallest building in Western Europe, with Emley Moor the tallest structure, and honour is satisfied all round.

    * The Burj Khalifa now holds both world titles, the first time a building has been the tallest structure since the construction of the CN Tower in 1976.

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    1. Conrad Longmore
      Reply Icon

      But..

      There's a control room near the top of the Emley Moor tower with a lift going up to it, so it's more than just a mast.

      btw, according to Wikipedia: "The tower is the tallest free-standing building in the United Kingdom, 4th in the European Union, and 25th in the world"

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    2. Marvin the Martian
      Reply Icon
      Boffin

      And why care about the peak?

      I'd be more interested in the "highest useful space": the Shard may top at 310m, but the highest occupied floor doesn't seem to be much above 250m. All the rest above is decoration (putting a gsm or tv mast above is just cheating).

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      1. Gavin Jamie
        Reply Icon
        Paris Hilton

        A new unit needed

        Perhaps we could measure the usable floor space divided by the land area used. Works fairly well until the development of mushroom shaped buildings. As this will measure how much a building has up top I vote this unit is named the "Paris".

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      2. Captain TickTock
        Reply Icon
        Coat

        How do you pronoun gsm?

        Phnarr phnarr. Sorry.

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  8. Michael Sauerbrey
    Thumb Down

    Sorry, there are some better towers ...

    Didn't have to look at wikipedia, but the (East-) Berlin television tower was at 365m when behind the iron bars and grew up to 368m after the wall toppled.

    Didn't know Riga can now claim to have the "tallest structure in European Union". But, maybe you find someone who adds the missing 40m ...

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  9. Anonymous Coward
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    Complete and utter b*ll*cks all of them

    Tallest building in Europe my a*** - any one one them. Ditto for tallest unsupported building in Europe.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostankino_Tower

    540m and in Europe. It may be in need of repairs (which are ongoing), it may not be in active use, but it is there and it is still standing.

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  11. LinkOfHyrule
    Paris Hilton

    Building measuring contest

    My shed is officially the tallest building in my garden. Do I get a prize now?

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    1. MJI Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Is it taller than ...

      your house?

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  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Ofcom pricks"

    The rest of the title was superfluous surely?

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