U.N. Breaks Ground on New Headquarters

By Nichole Altmix 

The United Nations unveiled renderings as well as announced an accelerated strategy for construction of its new headquarters at a groundbreaking ceremony Monday morning.  The plan will allow the building to be completed two years ahead of schedule, project officials said.

The United Nations unveiled images of its new $1,876 million, 2.6-million-sq-ft headquarters at a groundbreaking ceremony.  Rendering courtesy of the United Nations.

The accelerated plan to reduce construction from seven years to five years was based largely on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s desire to minimize disruption to the organization, said UN spokesman Eric Falt.

“Over these five years we will make our facilities greener and more efficient,” said Moon. “We will make them a model of environmental stewardship by reducing our electrical and water usages and removing harmful materials that were used in original construction.”

The updated facilities will ensure a 40% reduction in energy use and a 30% reduction in fresh water usage, according to the UN.

The ceremony, held at the UN headquarters at First Avenue and 46th Street in Manhattan, also marked the kickoff of the Capital Master Plan—a $1,876 million project to renovate, update and create a 2.6-million-sq-ft  sustainable facility for the United Nations—which Falt explained is “now firmly on track.”

“By the end of this year 2008, we will begin relocating several thousands of staff to make the way for construction crews who will begin the most awaited work on the secretary and conference buildings,” said Alicia Barcena Ibarra, Under-Secretary General, Department of Management. “We are in a point where we finally see tangible action. [We are going forward] in an accelerated mode for the Capital Master Plan. We rejoice that today we will start hearing construction noise.”

Assistant Secretary-General Michael Adlerstein said one of the major objectives of the project is to preserve the integrity of the building’s original design.

“The UN will look just as it does today, five years from now; however it will be a greener more sustainable building,” he said. “It will be a much safer building and it will be modern.  It will have much more up-to-date control systems for heating and ventilating and it will be much safer for diplomats, visitors and staff.”

Another priority is to accommodate the heavy UN traffic. When the Headquarters opened in 1952, it housed representatives of 70 member states. Currently the complex serves 192 member states and 4,700 UN staff as well as 1 million visitors each year, explained Ambassador Patrick Kennedy, U.S. Under-Secretary of State for Management. 

So far, the “renewal” project has run smoothly, Adlerstein said. “We have all of the approvals, we have the cash flow and we are very confident we are on budget and on schedule,” he said.

KEY PLAYERS

Owner: United Nations
Program Manager: Gardiner & Theobald, London
Construction Manager: Skanska USA Building, Parsippany, N.J.,
Architect-Structural Engineer-Secretariat Building: HLW, New York
Architect - Conference Building, General Assembly Building: Einhorn Yaffee Prescott Architecture & Engineering, Albany
Architect – Library: Helpern Architects, New York
Curtain Wall Consultant: R.A. Heintges & Associates, New York
M-E-P Engineer: Syska & Hennessy, New York
Space Programming Consultant: Perkins + Will, Chicago
Security Consultant: Kroll Schiff & Associates, New York
Building Code Consultant: Charles Rizzo Associates

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