Move by UK watchdog to sink US embassy's 'iceberg'

August 06 2009 by Mark Johnstone

The current US London embassy

The US embassy in London, which plans to move to a new site south of the city dubbed the ‘iceberg’, has seen its design plans rejected by British architecture watchdogs.

The Government's Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (Cabe) is opposing draft designs for the building. There has also been strong opposition from London’s Mayor, Boris Johnson.

The watchdog says it cannot back the embassy’s application which has been sent to the local council for approval. This is due to a number of perceived flaws in the design of the £275 million complex.

A spokesperson from Cabe said: “We are not convinced that the current layout makes sufficient contribution to civilising the existing street or generating intuitive pedestrian wayfinding.”

Newspaper, the London Paper, reported that, in a letter to Wandsworth council, the watchdog said: “We call into question several key urban design principles of the site layout: The relationship of the development to Nine Elms Lane, the nature and deliverability of the public realm elements are proposed outside the site boundary and the form of the site footprint in relation to new road layouts and adjacent sites.”

Security around the new building work is set to be so tight that only US architects are allowed to work in the UK on the project.

After 200 years in London’s fashionable Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, the embassy is set to move south to an industrial site overlooking the Thames River, between a disused power station and the offices of the UK’s M16.

The US has decided to move UK operations from London’s central diplomatic quarter to a place of increased security after suggestions that the current building is still at risk of terrorist attack.

The new building will be 97 meters high and protected by a 30 meter “blast zone.”

The current building which is valued at £500 million will be put up for sale and the US hopes to move to its new embassy in 2016.

The current US embassy is the biggest in Western Europe with nearly 800 staff. It deals with UK visa applications for US citizens who want to live and work in the UK.

See the latest Immigration News