There were loads, not just from UNESCO but from EH etc too. In fact, the only reason the Shard is called the Shard is because EH described the design as "a shard of glass through the heart of historic London" when they were trying to get it stopped! The name caught on.
Difference is, whilst UNESCO made plenty of threats about WHS, and put the Tower of London on an endangered list (where it still remains I think), they never followed through with removing the status. I guess that's where the clout of London comes in. Or maybe they came to reliase the shard is actually a pretty good building?
But there were definitely a lot of protests and noise around all of those developments.
Wasn't a pub rebuilt brick by brick in London because of EH?