BUSINESS NEWS

TUPNews recently visited the 40th floor of the 30 St. Mary Axe, also known as the Swiss Re building, also known as the Gherkin.

This is the best thing that can happen to a City hack. The 40th floor is the bar set at the very top of the building, pictured above. Neither the bar nor the dining rooms below are open to the public – you have to know people. And no wonder: it is a truly sublime place.

The 40th floor is the most elevated bar in London. Even on a cloudy Tuesday afternoon, the views of the city were staggering. I took a few hurried snaps on my mobile as my hosts looked on and grinned, gracious enough to allow me the time to soak up the experience.

I’ve said before that high-quality office environments induce feelings of calm and serenity in me. This place just blew me away. It was peaceful, like an executive class departure lounge, but with a Fifth Element-style hypermodernity that made it feel otherworldly. Everything just felt so incredibly still.

Snaps snapped, we sat down in modernist leather armchairs as two friendly Poles catered to our every need. It was early afternoon, so I stuck to coffee, served in a futuristic espresso cup that I won’t even try to describe. I was tripping out of my mind with serene office pleasure – I could barely stay focused on the interview.

I was there as a guest of an Israeli chief executive who is doing something very interesting with options pricing. I liked him a great deal. His company had previously occupied the top office floor of Tower 42, and therefore was the most elevated company in the City. When the Gherkin was built, this was no longer the case - while the Gherkin is ten feet shorter than Tower 42, the uppermost office floor is higher. This drove him crazy, and he moved mountains to get his hands on the top floor of the Gherkin.

In the end, he had to settle for the second-highest office floor, the 33rd. But still, I like his style.