UN poised for $2bn project to revamp HQ 
By Harvey Morris 
November 4, 2007
The Financial Times
Original Source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fe9cfcaa-8af9-11dc-95f7-0000779fd2ac.html

Published: November 4 2007 17:29 | Last updated: November 4 2007 17:29
The cash-strapped United Nations is about to embark on a $2bn refurbishment to bring its Manhattan headquarters up to date. 

Faced with a cost overrun of $219m (£105m, ¬ 151m) even before the builders move in, Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, this summer hired Michael Adlerstein, a New York architect, to bring the project back on track.
Mr Adlerstein is awaiting approval from 
the 192-member UN General Assembly for a proposal to stay inside his $1.876bn budget by speeding up the proposed works due to start next year.
Speeding up is a relative term in UN parlance. It means cutting a projected seven-year timetable by two years so that the buildings that house the UN secretariat, Security Council and General Assembly would be restored to their 1950s glory by 2013.
When the complex opened in 1952 – after three years’ construction and at the cost of $65m – it was hailed as an architectural masterpiece and the high point of the modernist school. Le Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer, the future planner of Brasilia, and the US’s Wallace Harrison were among a panel of international architects who collaborated on the design.
But the years have not been kind to the 38-storey secretariat building with its curtain wall of blue-green glass or to the low-rise General Assembly building clad in Portland stone. The infrastructure is crumbling and outmoded and the once fashionable interior now has a feel of what might best be described as early-James Bond.
Mr Adlerstein said the refurbished building would have to take account of 21st-century concerns such as working environment, green issues and terrorism. There were “blast considerations” to be studied, he said, in relation to the latter threat.
At the moment, there is no fire sprinkler system but there are large quantities of asbestos. The complex, built on international territory in what was once a rundown riverside area, does not meet New York building or fire regulations.
The enormous cost of the refurbishment, which will be met from outside the UN’s regular budget, amounts to about $10m per UN member state, although, inevitably, the lion’s share of the bill will be met by its richest members, including the US.
Mr Adlerstein estimates that moving more than 4,000 staff, in addition to national delegates, into temporary accommodation rather than a piecemeal approach to refurbishment would keep the project within budget.
That will be good news for Mr Ban, who is already facing resistance from some members to his proposal to increase the UN’s regular budget by $23m to $4.2bn over the next two years.
A local subsidiary of Skanska, the Swedish construction company, has been selected to manage the project and will invite tenders for various stages of the work. That might avoid some of the question marks that have surrounded internal UN procurement in recent years and led to legal action against staff who took bribes to favour certain companies.

Mr Adlerstein said the work would be carried out by a unionised US labour force but supplies would come from around the world. He acknowledged member states would push for their suppliers to be involved in the project. There were funds in the budget to help developing countries unable to offer the lowest bids.