Since the soap-box orators had yet to appear at Speakers Corner and obviously were ahving a lie-in I filled in some time by heading off to the Gherkin - I was looking for a street market but when I came out of the tube realised how close I was and headed off to the Gherkin instead.
The Gherkin, as it is commonly known, is located at 30 St. Mary Axe and formally called the Swiss Re Tower. Owned by Swiss Re(assurance) the Gherkin was built to replace the former Baltic Exchange severely damaged by an IRA blast in 1992.
Some facts about the Gherkin:
- It is the second highest building in London City at 180m high with 42 floors.
- The structure was built with 24,000 sq m of glass and contains 35km of steel
- There are 40 floors and a restaurant at the top (not open to the public). The restaurant is claimed to be the highest in London at a height of 165m.
It has been reported that security guards often stop photographers - the same at Lloyds building. I found no problem but night-time photography and the use of a tripod may well have a different result.
