London- Gherkin, Lloyds Building

30 St Mary Axe, or The Gherkin as it is popularly known, is one of London’s most well-known skyscrapers. Cool as a cucumber and uniquely shaped, it has earned itself a coveted place in the hearts of Londoners and amongst the enduring icons of Buckingham Palace, The London Eye, St Paul’s and Big Ben as one of London’s great buildings. Its high-powered lifts are capable of transporting 378 people at a time, at speeds of 6m per second. Charlie can keep his glass elevator; thank you very much! The Gherkin is covered by 24,000 square metres of external glass or the equivalent of five football pitches. The Gherkin is over three times the height of Niagara Falls and perhaps surprisingly, the largest circumference of the Gherkin is only two metres less than the building’s height. The Lloyds Building, which cost over £75 million to construct, has had a very rich and busy history; the institution has moved sites and hosted some of the UK’s most senior aristocracy. Further to that, the current building has been designed and created in a way that many consider to be universally recognised as one of the key buildings of the modern epoch.