The new United States Embassy site in Nine Elms was approved for development by Wandsworth Council last week.

The $1 billion (£640 million) development will be situated on the south side of Nine Elms Lane, incorporating Ponton Road.

Designed by award-winning Philadelphia architect Kieran Timberlake, the new high-security embassy will be a glass-cube structure protected by a moat and earth banks.

The embassy will be the most expensive ever built, and will cost even more than the most fortified US sites in Islamabad ($850million / £540million) and Baghdad ($600million / £382million).

The US State Department has committed to moving the embassy from its current site on Grosvenor Square by 2016.

Construction dates for its new Nine Elms location have yet to be confirmed.

Based on information supplied by David Kilcline.