The Gherkin - 30 St Mary Axe is a building in London s main financial district, the City of London. It is widely known by the nickname 'The Gherkin', and occassionally as a variant on The Swiss Re Tower, after its previous owner and principal occupier. It is 180 metres (591 ft) tall, making it the second-tallest building in the City of London, after Tower 42, and the sixth-tallest in London as a whole. The building's name is its address - St Mary Ace being the street it is on. The building was designed by Pritzker Prize-winner Lord Norman Foster and ex-partner Ken Shuttleworth and Arup engineers, and was constucted by Skanska of Sweden between 2001 and 2004.