US embassy moving to south London

[T_i_B]

Source: BBC

The US embassy is planning to move from Mayfair's Grosvenor Square to the Nine Elms area in Wandsworth, south London.

Ambassador Robert Tuttle said security and environmental considerations, as well as the need for an embassy fit for the 21st Century, made the site ideal.

He described the UK as a "best friend" of the US and said the American authorities wanted to be close to the centre of government and parliament. The deal is conditional on the approval of the US Congress and UK authorities.

The BBC's diplomatic correspondent James Robbins said Mayfair residents would be likely to welcome the move. They had complained the security barriers around the present embassy, built after 9/11, would leave their homes susceptible to the greatest damage.



Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7649184.stm

[HereSince1628]

1. Wait, wait...the current embassy built after 9/11 isn't fit for the 21st century?

Whaaaaa?

[T_i_B]

2. The Grosvenor Square building is a lot older then that.

They have made a few changes to security since 9/11 but it's the same building as before then.

[RaleighNCDUer]

5. The security modifications added after 9/11.

Blast shields that would deflect bomb blasts back out into the neighborhood, away from the embassy. Barriers that would prevent car bombs from reaching the embassy, leaving them closer to the neighbors. That kind of thing.

[UK populist]

3. Please let it be Wandsworth Prison.

I couldn't think of a more fitting place and they wouldn't even have to renovate it at all as far as the Majority of the British public are concerned.

Second thought maybe the Tower of London could be re-opened and they could let the Raven's feast on the Republicans eyeballs.

[14thColony]

4. Great

Will I have to have a body cavity search when I go to Battersea Park with my kids now?

[ensho]

6. moving to toxic site - here is another article about it lol

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article4870269.ece?print=yes&randnum=1222972748406

US embassy in London to switch to former industrial site


The United States is to abandon its embassy in London’s diplomatic quarter for a high-security compound south of the Thames that will offer better protection against the terrorist threat.

After 200 years in Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, the embassy will transfer to a site overlooking the river between Battersea power station and the headquarters of MI6 at Vauxhall.

Diplomats will swap London’s premier residential and shopping district for a former industrial site in an area renowned for its hard-core gay clubs.

The planned move comes after a worldwide review of the safety of US embassies as a result of the September 11 terrorist attacks and the War on Terror. A number have moved to secure locations outside city centres.

The London embassy, the biggest in Western Europe, was considered a key target for terrorism because of Britain’s close link to the United States. It has almost 800 staff, about half of whom are American.

The move will end a diplomatic presence in Mayfair dating back to the founding of the United States. Grosvenor Square was home to John Adams, the first Ambassador to London and the second President of the United States, from 1785 to 1788. The present 600-room embassy building was completed in 1960. There are still more than 930 years on a 999-year lease from the Duke of Westminster. The annual rent of one peppercorn is believed to have been paid in full several years ago with the presentation of three golden peppercorns.
-snip talks about stuff done after 9/11-
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