The Armenian government, on September 7, adopted a decision to allocate £16,670,800 pounds to purchase a building for the country’s embassy in London.

The Embassy of Armenia in the UK has been housed in two rooms in London’s Armenian House (Hye Doon) since Armenia’s independence in 1992.

Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan argued that the current space is too small for the embassy to operate effectively, and that Armenian House management told the embassy that it must vacate the space in 2024.

During a September 7 cabinet session Pashinyan said it was embarrassment that Armenia’s embassy was operating in such a space.

Armenian House is in London’s Kensington neighborhood, five kilometers from Buckingham Palace.

In response to a Hetq inquiry, Armenia’s Foreign Ministry said the embassy paid £11,500 in rent for 2022-2023 and £21,000 for 2023-2024 for the two rooms. The ministry added that based on an agreement with Armenian House, the embassy must vacate the premises in 2024.

The Government says new embassy is necessary to properly represent Armenia in London, to improve consular services, create better working conditions for the staff, and to host various diplomatic functions.

Armenia has been negotiating to purchase a five-story building located at 31A St. James Square in central London. The area is home to several foreign embassies, the Royal Institute of International Relations, the U.K. Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Foreign Office), the U.K. Parliament and the U.K. Prime Minister, the Ministry of Defense, the Security Council, and other government agencies.  

Pashinyan argued the new building is an excellent long-term investment for Armenia given London’s attractive real estate market and the building historical-cultural status. (The building was built in 1772, with the fourth and fifth stories added later.)

Embassy to increase staff in new building

The Armenian foreign ministry told Hetq that the new building will allow for an increased staff given the recent dynamics of Armenian-British relations and the fact that the embassy in the U.K. is jointly accredited in Ireland and the International Maritime Organization.

Annual building maintenance is estimated at £100,000.

The foreign ministry confirmed Hetq’s information that the building belongs to the Swiss property investment company Arundel AG. 

As we learn from the reasoning behind the government's decision, the owner of the building intended to sell it for £15 million, excluding VAT. However, as a result of the negotiations, an agreement was reached to buy the building for £14.2 million, to which will be added 20% VAT of £2.84 million and other fees provided for by UK law - £340,800, which includes a 2% commission charged by intermediary agents on the value of the building (£14.2 million) and 20% VAT of that amount.

In this case, the total selling price of the building is £17,380,800. But the question is that according to the decision of the Government on August 3, the amount equivalent to £710,000 was allocated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as an advance payment for the building to be purchased, which was transferred to the addressee. In other words, £16,670,800 remained to be paid from the total price.