Atlas Property has struck a deal with the government of Côte d’Ivoire to house the African nation’s new embassy in an office just off London’s Trafalgar Square.
The embassy is set to move from its base at Grosvenor’s 140 Buckingham Palace Road, SW1, and will relocate to 7 Northumberland Street, WC2.
The four-storey office building was constructed in the 1970s and was the head office of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers Union until 2017. After that it was owned and occupied by the National Education Union until May 2021, when Atlas bought it on behalf of the Iris Growth Fund for £9.5m. It has since been striped back to the shell and redeveloped.
In a statement accompanying a change-of-use application filed with Westminster City Council, Knight Frank’s planning team said Côte d’Ivoire’s diplomatic mission at the embassy is “relatively small”, comprising 20 members of staff and six diplomats, including the ambassador, Sara Amani.
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