Al Jazeera plans to open new studio in The Shard

Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera plans to set up a new studio in the Shard, the London Evening Standard has reported.

The TV channel is known to be taking up 28,000 sq ft of space on a single floor in Western Europe’s tallest building.

The deal puts to rest rumours about the skyscraper is struggling to get tenants. Developers of the building Sellar Property Group said that the Shard has snapped up a lot of other unnamed tenants.

“The Shard will be fully leased by the end of 2014 in accordance with our business plan,” said Sellar Property Group chairman Irvine Sellar.

“By the end of 2014 there will be 12,500 people permanently employed in the two buildings and there will be one million people a year visiting to the viewing gallery. It will be the first vertical town in Europe.”

Last week, Rupert Murdoch announced that News Corp’s titles will move into The Place aka “Baby Shard”. Plans for building two apartment towers between The Place and Shard are also on the cards, Seller said.

Oblix, Aqua Shard and Hutong, the three restaurants in the skyscraper, are already open with Shangri-La hotel expected to launch this Autumn.

Back in February, the Shard opened its viewing deck The View From The Shard.