How green is the Gherkin?
Next week (Saturday 16 October), Channel 4 will broadcast the Stirling Prize award ceremony. Thanks to an invitation from SPONGE, Get Sust! was able get a sneak preview of one high-profile finalist – 30 St Mary Axe, aka the Gherkin – which has been hailed for its environmental credentials. Be in no doubt; this is an impressive-looking building. At forty storeys, you can see it from the M25, but as I left the Tube station at Aldgate, the glinting glass facade had vanished from view behind so many conventional city office blocks. Approaching on foot from the West, through the City’s ancient and narrow passages, I couldn’t help but grin with delight when I arrived at the sunny piazza that forms the base of this 21st-century landmark (which, incidentally, the designers prefer to call “a pine cone”). But can a glass-clad skyscraper ever really be green? The client (Swiss Re) and the architect (Foster and Partners) think it’s worth a try. Sarah Fox, New Buildings Director at Swiss Re explain
