$1,005,074,815.97
$1 billion US "fortress embassy"
What did we sell the old embassy for??????
Were is this FORTRESS
Not in any terrorist country, but in London!!!!!
Design picked for US 'fortress embassy'
Philadelphia-based architect Kieran Timberlake has won the battle to design the new US embassy in London - the largest American building in western Europe.
The design beat off competition from four other practices, all-American, due to security concerns.
The partnership of Kieran-Timberlake (Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake was selected by a design jury that included the architect Richard Rogers and the proerty developer Peter Palumbo.
Other names in contention were IM Pei, Richard Meier and Thom Mayne of Morphosis. The US government wants to build the £650m complex, 12 stores high - on a five-acre site in Nine Elms in south London.
Selected design of new US embassy in London As described by the then US ambassador in 2008, Robert Tuttle: "We realised that the goal of a modern, secure and environmentally-sustainable embassy could best be met by constructing a new facility."
The Americans had talked in military terms of a "blast zone" 30 metres wide around the building and a perimeter fence 4.5 metres high.
But the plans do not include an obvious perimeter fence. Instead security will be maintained by clever landscaping, through a water feature, inclines and embankments.
Post -9/11, American embassy construction has offered a particular challenge. The state department has a specialist section dealing with it - the wonderful acronym, the OBO, Overseas Building Operations.
For the OBO, security has to be paramount. How do you build to deter terrorists? They all remember the bloody attacks on embassies in Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam in 1998, on the embassy in San'a in Yemen a decade later.
The American embassy in Baghdad, which opened in January 2009, stands in the Green Zone. The last important new embassy in Europe, in Berlin, was dogged by delays mostly because of security.
The Berlin design (naturally by American architects) was ready in 1996. Construction finally started eight years later in 2004.
Grosvenor Square Eagle (Credit: Getty) The old embassy in Grosvenor Square - designed by the Finnish-American, Eero Saarinen in 1955 - will continue to function until then.
The lease was sold to Diar Real Estate Investment of Qatar in November 2009.
Biography of Mr Ghanim bin Saad al-Saad CEO Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company
Qatari born Mr. Ghanim bin Saad al-Saad is a prominent leader in Qatar’s real-estate and business sectors. He obtained his Master’s degree from Kent University, UK and is currently involved with his Ph.D.
Furthermore, Mr. Al-Saad is currently the Chairman of a number of organizations, namely, Barwa Real Estate Company (which is 45% owned by Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company), First Finance Company, First Real Estate Company, Al-Jazeera Academy, and Barwa Bank. Moreover, he is also the Director of Urban Velvet (Architecture & Development company) in London, UK. Most recently, Mr. Al-Saad has been appointed to be the CEO of Qatari Diar Real-Estate Investment Company the wholly owned real estate investment arm of the Qatar Investment Authority and the Government of Qatar capitalized at US$1 billion.
The world’s 100 most influential Arabs
65# Ghanim Bin Saad Al Saad
Country of Residence / Nationality: Qatar
Industry: Real Estate
Companies: Barwa Real Estate Company
A star of Qatar's real estate market, Al Saad's reputation and profile grew alongside his home state's property boom.
A star of Qatar's real estate market, Al Saad's reputation and profile grew alongside his home state's property boom.
As head of one of the Gulf nation's biggest developers, Barwa Real Estate, he has overseen high-profile property developments in his domestic market, while steering the firm into foreign markets including Libya, Switzerland and Belgium.
The property sector's slump, triggered by the global economic downturn, means Al Saad will need all his business acumen to guide Barwa through this challenging year.
Earlier this month the firm reported a 41.5 percent drop in 2008 net profit to $85.14m, caused by a decline in property prices. In January, Qatar's government ordered Barwa, an affiliate of state-owned Qatari Diar, to merge with Qatar Real Estate Investment Company.
Barwa is publicly listed and trades on the Doha Securities Market. The company was formed in 2005 and a stake of 55 percent, worth more than $300m, was offered shortly afterwards in an initial public offering that attracted more than 200,000 shareholders.
As head of one of the Gulf nation's biggest developers, Barwa Real Estate, he has overseen high-profile property developments in his domestic market, while steering the firm into foreign markets including Libya, Switzerland and Belgium.
The property sector's slump, triggered by the global economic downturn, means Al Saad will need all his business acumen to guide Barwa through this challenging year.
Earlier this month the firm reported a 41.5 percent drop in 2008 net profit to $85.14m, caused by a decline in property prices. In January, Qatar's government ordered Barwa, an affiliate of state-owned Qatari Diar, to merge with Qatar Real Estate Investment Company.
Barwa is publicly listed and trades on the Doha Securities Market. The company was formed in 2005 and a stake of 55 percent, worth more than $300m, was offered shortly afterwards in an initial public offering that attracted more than 200,000 shareholders.
It is expected to be turned into a hotel.
In October 2009, the building was Grade 2 listed and that means its facade cannot be touched and parts of its interior without special planning permission. The building's Eagle with its 35-foot wingspan, will stay.
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