UN: Over five years the landmark UN building will be gutted and rebuilt in a greener and more efficient manner, writes Maggie Farleyin New York.
THE UN secretary general and top diplomats have taken part in a groundbreaking move to update and reform the world body - or at least its antiquated headquarters.
Wielding shiny silver spades and wearing UN blue construction helmets, Ban Ki-moon and 16 other officials on Monday broke ground on the UN's North Lawn to mark the beginning of a five-year, nearly $2 billion (€1.3 billion) renovation.
The gleaming edifice on the East river has hardly been updated since its completion in 1952 by a team of architects, including Swiss-born Le Corbusier and Brazil's Oscar Niemeyer.
The ceilings shed asbestos, the walls have lead paint and the dome of the General Assembly drips rain on diplomats' heads. Much of the building's machinery is obsolete, and craftsmen build their own replacement parts in workshops in the basement.
Technically international territory, the United Nations has been exempt from New York fire and safety codes, and during a courtesy inspection last year, it racked up 866 violations.
Over five years, the building's interior will be gutted and rebuilt in a greener, more efficient and modern manner. But the UN's gleaming blue-tinted exterior won't be changed, said New York architect Michael Adlerstein, who took over the project's management when the previous director got fed up dealing with the UN bureaucracy.
Adlerstein previously renovated New York's Statue of Liberty and consulted on the preservation of India's Taj Mahal.
Most of the 4,700 UN staffers will move in phases to a nearby office building, and heads of state will attend the annual General Assembly in a giant supermarket-like temporary building where the lawn now is.
The Security Council will continue holding meetings in the main UN building throughout the construction, and will be shielded from asbestos and debris, contractors promised.
The UN has been debating where and how to move its headquarters for nearly 10 years, as costs have spiralled.
Among the options were moving it onto a cruise ship anchored in the East river, into a giant circus tent, into the Brooklyn navy yards or - as some critics suggested - out of the country altogether.
As one of the world's slowest bureaucracies lost opportunities in one of the world's hottest real estate markets, the secretariat decided to erect the temporary building on the lawn, now decorated with sculptures and cherry trees.
"Spring is a time of rebirth," Ban said as he prepared to pick up his shovel, so the UN will be reborn.
- (LA Times-Washington Post service)