Luis Ayllón
The Government will have to spend some 93 million euros to buy the current headquarters of the Spanish Embassy in the UK, The Diplomat has learned from reliable sources.
On the 5th, the Council of Ministers authorised the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to modify its spending limits for future years in order to proceed with the purchase of the building that houses our diplomatic representation in London.
Following this authorisation, the draft General State Budget for 2022, sent to the Congress of Deputies, included an item of 39 million euros, which will cover part of the purchase. The remaining 54 million euros will be allocated in future Budgets.
The embassy, as well as the ambassador’s residence, is located in a Victorian mansion at 39 Chesham Place in Belgravia, one of the most sought-after areas of the British capital.
The property is currently subject to a lease with the British company Grosvenor Estate, which was signed in June 1928 for a period of 98 years and 9 months, and is due to expire on 25 March 2027.
Faced with the risk of being without a proper embassy in the UK, the government has decided to opt for the acquisition of the building it has occupied for 93 years, which was built in the 1840s and 50s and is of architectural value.
The Spanish Embassy is owned by the Grosvenor Group, the estate agency of the Duke of Westminster, Hugh Grosvenor, which owns more than 1,500 properties in 60 countries, including Spain. In London, the group owns more than 90 per cent of the land in the exclusive neighbourhoods of Mayfair and Belgravia.
