"The Gherkin" redirects here. For the pickled fruit, see Gherkin. 30 St Mary Axe 30 St Mary Axe from Leadenhall Street.jpg 30 St Mary Axe, with St Andrew Undershaft church in the foreground, pictured from Leadenhall Street General information Status Complete Type Office Architectural style Neo-futuristic Location St Mary Axe, London, United Kingdom[1][2] Coordinates 51°30′52″N 00°04′49″WCoordinates: 51°30′52″N 00°04′49″W Construction started 2001 Completed 2003[3] Opening 28 April 2004; 11 years ago[4][5] Cost £138 million (plus land cost of £90.6 million)[6] adjusted for inflation: £204 million (plus land cost of £142 million)[6][7] Height Roof 180 metres (591 ft) Technical details Floor count 41 Floor area 47,950 square metres (516,100 sq ft) Design and construction Architect Foster and Partners Structural engineer Arup Main contractor Skanska References [8] 30 St Mary Axe (widely known informally as The Gherkin and previously as the Swiss Re Building) is a commercial skyscraper in London's primary financial district, the City of London. It was completed in December 2003 and opened in April 2004.[4] With 41 storeys, it is 180 metres (591 ft) tall[3] and stands on the former sites of the Baltic Exchange and Chamber of Shipping, which were extensively damaged in 1992 by the explosion of a bomb placed by the Provisional IRA in St Mary Axe, the street from which the tower takes its name.[4][9] After plans to build the 92-storey Millennium Tower were dropped, 30 St Mary Axe was designed by Norman Foster and Arup Group[10] and it was erected by Skanska, with construction commencing in 2001.[3] The building has become an iconic symbol of London and is one of the city's most widely recognised examples of contemporary architecture.

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