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Background and Argument
3.
A
B
Mr Goodlad accepted the recommendation in OED's submission of 22 July 1992 that Terry Farrell and Company should develop their design submission. They subsequently produced, in September 1992, the attached Preliminary Sketch Designs. The Hong Kong Steering Committee (Chaired by Mr Hum) and the Co-ordinating Committee (Chaired in Hong Kong by the Senior British Trade Commissioner) were both satisfied that the design fully met the requirements efficiently and securely. (The British Council are
represented on both Committees).
4. But the first detailed estimate of the cost was not available until the following month. At £30.6m, this was unacceptably high. (The figure of £24.8m had been built into the October 1991 PES settlement.) Farrell's original scheme was estimated, at April 1992 prices and rate of exchange, at £24.2 million, which was in line with the other competition schemes. We believed that there would be scope for cost savings on it during the next stage of its development. There were no increases to the Schedule of Requirement (SOR) between its selection and the next stage but it transpired that the cost of several significant and necessary design changes outweighed the foreseen cost savings. The most significant of these changes were the separation of the entrances to the Consulate-General building, the introduc- tion of a link between the two buildings and of car parking on the British Council side. These resulted in the estimated cost, at the same price bases, increasing to £26.5m. The effect of sterling's devaluation in October 1992 brought this figure up to the £30.6 million of the October 1992 estimate. At a more recent rate of exchange (of 11.122 Hong Kong dollars to the pound) this figure rises further to £32.15m. Meanwhile, applying the GDP deflator and OPM adjustment to the October 1991 PES budget figure of £24.8m, brings it up to £27.16m. The Preliminary Sketch Design estimate was, therefore, in January 1993 significantly more than the funds available.
5.
We therefore looked at ways substantially to reduce the costs of the Preliminary Sketch Designs. Based on suggestions by OED (endorsed by the Steering Committee) Farrell subsequently proposed the following design changes:-
(a) the deletion of the British Council's multi-purpose
hall (the main functions of the hall could instead be accommodated by more flexible design and use of Classrooms).
SC1860.HK
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