Global perspective Human stories

UN renovation on schedule and moving back from the red towards its budget limit

UN renovation on schedule and moving back from the red towards its budget limit

Michael Adlerstein, Executive Director of the Capital Master Plan
The renovation of United Nations Headquarters in New York is now only $90 million over its $1.876 billion budget compared with $219 million two years ago, with a good chance of returning to the black, while being on schedule for completion by late 2013, the official in charge of the overhaul said today.

“We will continue to seek opportunities to align the budget to the project and I remain confident that we will complete the project within the approved budget,” Capital Master Plan (CMP) Executive Director Michael Adlerstein told a news conference, citing lower inflation and prices for materials than when the renovation was budgeted.

When completed, the landmark 39-storey building towering over the East River and First Avenue in Manhattan will possess the 21st-century trappings of eco-friendly energy conservation, and its now dulled glass façade will be replaced with a new glass curtain resplendent with the same bluish-green tint as in its first incarnation in 1952.

“The environmental performance of the Headquarters complex will be significantly improved,” Mr. Adlerstein said. “Total energy consumption will be reduced by 50 per cent as compared to existing conditions. The carbon footprint of the compound will be reduced by over 45 per cent. The consumption of fresh water will be reduced by over 40 per cent.”

Some 3,300 of the more than 5,000 people that have to be moved from the Secretariat building have so far been relocated and the remainder will be moved by early 2010, while a new data centre in the basement is on schedule to be finished by March. “When the staff relocation is completed and the data centre migration is concluded, the renovation of the Secretariat will go into high gear,” Mr. Adlerstein said.

During the renovations, which beyond energy saving and essential refurbishment will remove dangerously toxic materials commonly used in the mid-20th century such as asbestos, the 15-member Security Council will take up residence in basement conference rooms, while the 192-member General Assembly, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s executive office and other facilities will migrate to a three-storey, $140-million temporary building on the compound’s north lawn.

Renovation in the building’s basement is substantial, involving the installation of 14 kilometres of water piping, 65 kilometres of electrical conduits and more than 60 kilometres of telecommunications conduits – and removing an equal amount of old deteriorated materials – representing almost a quarter of the construction activity of the entire project.

Asked how long the building would last after work is completed, Mr. Adlerstein replied: “The renovation of the UN building should last for ever. Like all buildings if there’s cyclic maintenance, every 10 or 15 years which is the way that it should be done, which is the way that most organizations do, then it can go on forever. “There are buildings that are hundreds of years old that survive very well.

“What’s important is that governments and inter-governmental organizations like the UN often put aside that need in terms of the rest of their mission… so the funds are always in competition and the funds to fix up their house are not heavily competitive, which is a shame because then you end with a crisis like the Capital Master Plan where you have to vacate and do it wholesale.”