US Embassy, London

Architect: Kieran Timberlake
Contractor: Sir Robert McAlpine / BL Harbert International

In the end, despite much rumour and anticipation, President Trump didn’t turn up for the opening of the new US embassy in January. But even without his volatile presence, the embassy – built in Battersea’s redevelopment quarter, Nine Elms – still suffered more than its fair share of controversy in the run-up to completion. Finishing over a year late and with costs spiralling up to an estimated $1bn (£784m), the project was lambasted not only by the US house oversight committee but also, famously, by the present incumbent of the Oval Office, who brought the full weight of his real estate experience to denounce it in unwittingly prescient language as a “bad deal” in an “off-location.”

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