Far away from the gilded Security Council chamber or the green marble of the vast General Assembly hall, visitors on the so-called "dirty tour" of UN Headquarters in New York City see the innards of the aging United Nations Secretariat building. Machinery that blows steam through massive pipes, circulated throughout the UN Secretariat, is attached to control panels displaying original analogue pressure gauges from the early 1950s. Although they represented the cutting edge of architecture when they were built, the UN buildings do not comply with current building fire and safety codes, or with modern standards for security and sustainability.

In December 2006, the Fifth Committee approved the budget for the Capital Master Plan (CMP), paving the way for a major renovation of UN Headquarters. The iconic rectangular building, which has received over 38 million visitors and become a landmark for people around the globe, will be made safer and more energy efficient. The renovation will be carried out from 2007 to 2014, with a total cost of $1.88 billion.

Constructed between 1949 and 1952, the UN Secretariat complex was "built very well, using the best materials", said Werner Schmidt, CMP spokesperson and UN "dirty tour" guide. "That is why it has lasted so long", he explained. The renovation will retain the building's structural elements that were built with steel encased in concrete, a method rarely used today. "Maintenance did a wonderful job keeping the building in good shape", he said, and explained that most of the parts inside the building have not been manufactured for many years, so that when they need replacement, they are fabricated in workshops in the building's basement. These machines and pipes were built to last 25 years, making their replacement 30 years overdue.

The buildings on UN Headquarters complex will receive their first major renovation since they were constructed in the early 1950's. A window washer cleans the Secretariat building with the General Assembly Hall under construction in the background. Credit: UN Photo

Asbestos was used throughout the building to insulate floors, ceilings and pipes, and because of this, a fire or explosion in the Secretariat would likely cause the evacuation of several surrounding blocks, said Mr. Schmidt. During the renovation, utmost care will be taken to ensure that asbestos is not released into the air, he added. The renovation will also help make the building safer in the event of a terrorist attack, which was not considered by the original architects. Mr. Schmidt said that the columns in the "building's soft underbelly"--the three basement floors-- would be reinforced against bomb blasts.

Huge amounts of fuel are being used to heat the building in the winter and cool it in the summer. The new Headquarters will be made more energy efficient by replacing the building's glass curtain façade, as it is currently made of single-glazed, quarter-inch thick glass: with double-pane windows, the building will be 30 per cent more fuel-efficient. Other environmentally-friendly options include using solar power for lighting the flags and powering the fountain in front of the Secretariat, installing low-usage toilets and reducing waste by composting garbage from the cafeteria.

"When you have a project as large as the Capital Master Plan, sustainability should definitely be an important consideration", said Thomas Stahli of the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations. Early in the negotiation, he made clear that his delegation was interested in the environmental sustainability of the project, anticipating a debate; however, sustainability options were adopted by consensus. "The project should be 'state-of-the-art' also in terms of sustainability. It is a good message that Member States were willing to take the sustainability options without questions", said Mr. Stahli.

A representative from the "Group of 77" developing countries and China told the UN Chronicle that procurement for the renovation should take into account the international nature of the organization. She pointed out that the original building had been designed by an international team of architects, including the renowned Brazilian and French architects Oscar Niemayer and Le Corbusier. The renovation project should continue this tradition, she said, and particularly encourage firms from developing countries to provide the services and materials needed.

Brian Streb, who is in charge of procurement for the CMP, said that every effort would be made to follow the General Assembly's mandate to create opportunities for developing countries and those in transition to participate in the procurement process. One of the criteria for the selection of the company that will lead the renovation will be its ability to incorporate services and suppliers from developing countries, he said. He added that many of the architectural and construction firms involved in the renovation would be multinational, and their staff would likely have a broad geographical representation. Much of the construction materials were likely to come from developing countries simply because of their lower costs, said Mr. Streb, mentioning that the glass for the curtain wall might come from China and the steel reinforcement from India.

Some 1,000 UN staff members will be relocated to rented offices nearby the UN Headquarters, while the 39-story building is renovated ten floors at a time. A 100,000 square feet (30,480 square meters) temporary structure will be built on a lawn inside the UN complex to house meetings while the renovation is underway. Originally built to accommodate 700 meetings for 70 Member States, the UN complex currently handles over 8,000 meetings for 192 delegations and operates at full capacity or beyond, twelve months a year, with virtually no down time.