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Safety fear over Gherkin
By Mira Bar-hillel And Ed Harris, Evening Standard Last updated at 00:00am on 25.04.05
The glass fell 400ft.
The Gherkin, one of London's best known landmarks, is at the centre of a major safety alert today after one of its giant glass windows plunged 400 feet to the ground.
The plaza around the award-winning tower - officially known as the Swiss Re building - was sealed off after the triangular window fell and smashed. A serious accident was only avoided because the area was deserted at the time.
Building engineers are now inspecting each of the other 744 similar windows. The plaza will not reopen until the problem is diagnosed and a safe solution is found. A spokesman for Swiss Re,
the owner, said: "We have begun an investigation to establish why this happened.
"Work is going on on the other 744 similar windows to secure them in the closed position as the window that fell out was open at the time."
Today a makeshift sheet of wood was clearly visible in the gap where the window had been, and scaffolding surrounds the entrance to the tower to protect visitors.
The 40-storey, 590ft tower, by Foster and Partners, was built on the site of the historic Baltic Exchange, damaged in the IRA 1992 bombing.
The building's double skin of steel and glass traps heat and sunlight and is said to make it 50 per cent more energyefficient than its rivals.
The windows are designed to be opened by a sophisticated computer program which responds to signals from a miniweather station transmitting-information on wind speed, sunlight and temperature.
The latest mishap will not help the building's reputation. Nor will it help Swiss Re, which occupies the bottom 15 storeys and urgently need tenants for the upper section.
The company is said to be losing about ?35,000 a day in potential rent from the empty half of the building. In spite of a few recent takers at discounted rents, more than 235,000 sq ft out of the total 500,000 are still unoccupied.
