§ Baroness Young of Old Sconeasked Her Majesty's Government:
When the Private Finance Initiative contract for the British Embassy in Berlin will be signed. [HL2416]
§ Baroness Symons of Vernham DeanThe Private Finance Initiative contract for the British Embassy in Berlin was signed on 22 June and the commercial arrangements completed yesterday, 23 June.
The Embassy will be built to a design by the British architects Michael Wilford and Partners, winners of the 1995 Embassy Design Competition, on the site of the pre-war British Embassy in Wilhelmstrasse. Under the contract, Arteos, a German consortium, will finance, construct and then manage the building for 30 years. Building work will start in July and the building will be handed over by the end of February 2000.