US plans to move London embassy

Effort to boost security needs Congress OK

The United States plans to leave its landmark embassy in central London for a safer facility south of the Thames River. (Alastair Grant/associated press)

LONDON - The United States announced plans yesterday to leave its landmark embassy in central London's tony Mayfair district and build a safer facility in a far less fashionable suburb south of the Thames.

The move, which will end a 200-year US association with Grosvenor Square, is part of US efforts to secure diplomatic staff in compounds - a push that began in earnest after deadly Al Qaeda bombings at two US embassies in East Africa a decade ago.

Over the last decade, US diplomatic outposts have been transformed from showcases of American openness to heavily defended fortresses. Around the world from Athens to Abidjan, embassies built with colonial elegance or postwar openness have been transformed with fences, blast walls, and other barriers against attack.

Robert Tuttle, the US ambassador to Britain, said the State Department agreed to buy a 5-acre site at Nine Elms in the Wandsworth area and that the existing embassy building would be put up for sale "almost immediately."

"This has been a long and careful process," Tuttle said. "We looked at all our options, including renovation of our current building on Grosvenor Square. In the end, we realized that the goal of a modern, secure, and environmentally sustainable embassy could best be met by constructing a new facility."

The State Department had been weighing whether to renovate the 600-room embassy, a modern concrete-and-glass building designed by Finnish-born architect Eero Saarinen, or sell it and move to a new site in the suburbs.

The move requires approval from Congress and local planning authorities, and Tuttle said relocation is probably five years away.

The United States has been selling embassies and other diplomatic buildings around the world as it consolidates diplomatic staff into more secure and modern compounds, often away from city centers.

The United States moved its Beirut embassy to a suburb after deadly bombings in the 1980s and efforts to upgrade security at other facilities were stepped up further following the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed more than 200 people. Safety took on an even greater urgency after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Tuttle said the architect for the new embassy would be chosen through an international competition. He said it would be more both eco-friendly than the old building and as open to the public as possible given the security concerns.

The move will bring a stark change in surroundings for the embassy's 800 staff members. The current building is a stone's throw from designer boutiques and expensive restaurants. The future site sits near railway lines, public housing projects, a fruit and vegetable market, and derelict Battersea Power station - although on the upside, Tuttle said the embassy will have a river view.