Ban wants to speed up U.N. building renovation

By Patrick Worsnip

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is proposing to speed up refurbishment of the iconic United Nations building to try to keep the much-delayed project within budget, according to a report issued on Friday.

On the drawing-board since 1995 but yet to start, the renovation of the nearly 60-year-old skyscraper beside New York's East River would be completed by mid-2013, three years sooner than earlier planned, if Ban's proposals are accepted.

In a report to the U.N. General Assembly, which must allocate the funds, Ban said latest estimates put the projected costs almost $220 million over the authorized expenditure of just under $1.9 billion.

To eliminate that over-run, his report calls for an "accelerated strategy" that would move more staff off-site during the renovation to allow work to go faster, U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas told a news briefing.

Almost 2,600 people would be shifted to other premises, instead of 1,100, while 2,200 would stay put instead of 3,700. Project managers are looking for office space in mid-town and lower Manhattan for those moved out, Montas said.

Work will begin early next year with construction of a temporary building to house conference rooms on the U.N. North Lawn, while work on the main skyscraper, which houses the secretariat, would start in early 2009, she said.

Ban's report said he would ensure that the overall budget of the so-called capital master plan "will remain at the authorized level of $1,876.7 million and that the projected cost increase to complete will be eliminated".

The blue-tinted glass and steel 39-story structure, whose original architects included France's Le Corbusier, was completed in 1950 and has been increasingly showing its age.

It has water dripping through its roof, toxic asbestos lining its ceiling tiles, no sprinklers in case of fire and erratic heating and cooling systems.

But the renovation project has drawn criticism over delays and waste that Ban has sought to act on since he took over in January.

U.S. architect Michael Adlerstein, who has helped renovate buildings ranging from New York's Statue of Liberty to India's Taj Mahal, was appointed in July to take over the project.

Later the same month, the world body signed a contract for construction management with Skanska Building USA, a unit of Swedish construction group Skanska.

Adlerstein's predecessor, Louis Frederick Reuter, quit after 10 months in frustration at what he called the difficulty of working within the U.N. system and lack of support from major nations, including the United States.