For a state-of-the-art fortress, the new US embassy in London features one security measure that is distinctly old-fashioned — the first moat to be built in England since the 19th century.
Costing a billion dollars, the 12-floor cube in Nine Elms, which was shown off for the first time yesterday, is the most expensive embassy yet built.
It boasts some of the most high-tech defences in the world, including triple-glazed and blast-proof glass walls, raised terraces and sunken trenches instead of a wire fence, and a Faraday cage — a mesh of conductive material to prevent electronic eavesdropping.
There will also be a barracks for a contingent of US Marines with 21 bedrooms, a bar, gym and a separate lift and a medical facility for