In December 1884, the United Kingdom bought the site after renting it for some years after Strousberg's bankruptcy and the subsequent sale of the building to Hugo zu Hohenlohe-Öhringen in 1876.

Accordingly, the British government decided to reoccupy the Wilhelmstraße site, despite the German Foreign Office no longer being located on this street.

Ground was broken at the site on 29 June 1998 by Derek Fatchett MP, and the new building opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 18 July 2000.

Arteos, a Bilfinger Berger owned special purpose entity, financed and were to operate the embassy building for 30 years.

[2] Conscious of the necessity for modern embassies to forge good and open relationships with the German public, Wilford endowed the main floor with a café, library and restaurant.

[citation needed] On 10 August 2021, British and German authorities arrested an embassy security guard for passing documents to Russian intelligence for money.