What’s odd here is that almost ALL embassies in London, are within a five-minute walk of Hyde Park.
This new US position is down across the river, by itself. Across the way (east) is the flower market. The railway network is to the south. To the west is mostly warehouses. The property was valued to a degree, but mostly for use as commercial use. To suggest this was a place to put a US embassy is a joke.
I’ll go ahead and predict that they start looking for a new property back at Hyde Park by 2030 and dump this river-front area embassy within a 20-year lifespan.
Article about the new building explaining, inter alia, the reasons for the location:
This is a result of the new normal. The new embassy is 100 feet back from the street, surrounded by a security wall, has living quarters on the grounds for the Marine detachment, all security requirements that are needed these days and which the old site couldn't provide.