At the same time MI5 was seeking alternative accommodation and collocation of the two services was studied. In the end this proposal was abandoned due to the lack of buildings of adequate size existing or proposed and the security considerations of providing a single target for attacks.
At this stage the government proposed to pay for the building outright in order to maintain secrecy over the intended use of the site. It is important to note that at this time the existence of MI6 was not officially acknowledged. The building design was reviewed to incorporate the necessary protection for Britain's foreign intelligence gathering agency.
The numerous layers over which the building is laid out create 60 separate roof areas. Due to the sensitive nature of MI6's work, large parts of the building are below street level, with numerous underground corridors serving the building.
Vauxhall Cross has featured in several recent James Bond films. It also plays a major role in the climax of the film. James Bond Wiki Explore. Hunt Tom Mankiewicz. Ken Adam Syd Cain. John Glen Peter R. Hunt Norman Wanstall. Albert R. Hunt Tom Mankiewicz Michael Kitchen. This location did not stay a closely guarded secret, however. Surveillance teams discovered that the premises were being monitored by Russian KGB spies, so MI5 decided to up sticks and moved the garage to Streatham High Street — before that was also discovered.
An unassuming fire escape on a central London street is the unlikely setting for a location that played a key part in resolving the Cuban Missile Crisis. Rewind a few decades to the second world war, when a set of tunnels were constructed near Chancery Lane as air raid shelters for up to 8, people.
The tunnels, which are over feet deep, were never used as shelters, but were taken over by the Inter Services Research Bureau branch of MI6. The warren-like network of tunnels was used as a telecommunications hub and employed in the transmission of messages between Kennedy and Khrushchev at the height of the missile crisis. The tunnels have since been decommissioned. The entrance to the tunnels, found on Furnival Street off High Holborn, is marked by nothing more than a non-descript fire exit.
However, a heavy-duty hoist and ventilation shaft above give the game away for those in the know. Interestingly, the sign on the CCTV camera at the top of Furnival Street indicates that footage is recorded "for the purposes of It consisted of two separate buildings, linked by an archway which was filled in at a later date. Originally built on the site of slums wrecked by the Thames flood, the property was purchased by the government in the late s to consolidate several office locations for the security service.
After an extensive refurbishment and some structural changes, the Grade II listed building was eventually opened by then Prime Minister John Major in The building was designed by Terry Farrell , the chap who designed Charing Cross station as well as the Newcastle Quayside. In September , the resistance to bombs came in quite handy when an anti-tank rocket fired by the Real IRA struck and eighth floor window causing only superficial damage.
MI6 were previously based near Lambeth North station. On 7 September , Markov was standing at a bus stop on Waterloo Bridge waiting for his ride to work when a stranger bumped in to him and dropped his umbrella.
Markov felt a stinging pain in his thigh but thought nothing more of it. It later transpired that, during the incident, Markov had been shot with a pellet containing the deadly poison ricin, probably fired from an umbrella gun. The building was purchased in December by the multinational Hinduja group in partnership with Spanish firm Obrascon Huarte Lain Desarrolos, and is understood to be earmarked for redevelopment as a hotel.
The same fate befell the Admiralty Arch building, which once housed government offices before the lease was sold in It is set to become a hotel, and proceeds went toward the renovation and expansion of other government buildings. As of , only 3 per cent of the central government estate was sitting vacant — compared to the national average of 10 per cent across the private and public sectors.
The MI6 building is nicknamed Babylon-on-Thames because it resembles a ziggurat. Less flattering names include Legoland and the Vauxhall Trollop. The purchase of a new building for MI6 was approved by Margaret Thatcher in — before the government publicly acknowledged that the secret organisation existed.
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