30 St Mary Axe, also known as the 'Gherkin', is a skyscraper in London's financial district, the City of London, which opened on 28 April 2004. It is 180 metres (591 ft) tall, with 40 floors. Its construction symbolised the start of a new high-rise construction boom in London. The building was designed by Lord Foster and was constructed between 2001–2004.

The building is on the former site of the Baltic Exchange building, the headquarters of a global marketplace for ship sales and shipping information. On 10 April 1992 the Provisional IRA detonated a bomb close to the Exchange, severely damaging the historic Exchange building and neighbouring structures.

The UK government's statutory adviser on the historic environment, English Heritage, and the City of London governing body, the City of London Corporation, insisted that any redevelopment must restore the building's old façade onto St Mary Axe. The Exchange Hall was a celebrated fixture of the ship trading company.

Baltic Exchange, being unable to afford such an undertaking, sold the land to Trafalgar House in 1995. Most of the remaining structures on the site were then carefully dismantled; the interior of Exchange Hall and the façade were preserved and sealed from the elements. After English Heritage later discovered the damage was far more severe than previously thought, they stopped insisting on full restoration, and redevelopment of the site was approved.

30 St Mary Axe, Liverpool Street, London, EC3A 8EP

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