Afternoon:
12°c
Chelsfield wins bid for US Embassy site
Benedict Moore-Bridger22.01.09
ONE of London's most well-known retail developers has won the contest to develop the site of the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square, the Standard can reveal.
The embassy is planning to move to Nine Elms, on the South Bank, because of concerns about security and its impact on neighbours in its current location. It also says it needs more space for its expanding staff.
The contract to develop the site has been won by property developer Chelsfield, sources close to the project have said.
An official announcement is expected within days. The existing building, which has been on the site for 40 years, occupies one of the most desirable locations in London with an estimated value of £500 million.
But the value of the embassy building, completed in 1960 to the design of American architect Eero Saarinen, will be greatly reduced if plans to give the building listed status go ahead. It is probable that English Heritage will push for a Grade II listing.
Chelsfield is led by Elliott Bernerd and Sir Stuart Lipton, two of the best-known names in London property. Mr Bernerd is a former chairman of the South Bank Arts Centre, and Sir Stuart is a former head of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment.
One of the company's leading investors is the Qatari Investment Authority, raising the possibility that an Arab country will have a stake in the former American Embassy site.
Chelsfield is also behind the proposed development of the Commonwealth Institute building in Kensington, including the proposed relocation of the Design Museum there.
The embassy building has been a focal point of the US/UK "special relationship", and is the scene of regular protests outside its gates, as well as its four-yearly election parties.
Author and activist Tariq Ali, a veteran of the original Grosvenor demonstrations in 1968, wrote recently: "Until now, we could all meet happily in central London.
"A long march to south London is far less enticing."
US Ambassador Robert Tuttle described the new site - a brown-field site in the borough of Wandsworth - as "fabulous".
