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Printed for the Cabinet. December 1955
CONFIDENTIAL
C.P. (55) 187
2nd December, 1955
CABINET
Copy No. 63
CONFERENCE CENTRE
MEMORANDUM BY THE MINISTER OF WORKS
At Cabinet on 16th March I was invited to arrange for a study of the possibilities of erecting a permanent conference centre in central London (C.C. (55) 25th Conclusions, Minute 6). A working party of officials from the Treasury, the Foreign Office, the Board of Trade and the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, under the chairmanship of my Department, have examined the matter exhaustively.
2. The working party agreed that existing conference facilities in London are inadequate and are likely to get more so. They considered two different sizes of centre: one large enough to accommodate the United Nations General Assembly, and one which could accommodate international conferences of up to 500 delegates.
Centre Large Enough for the General Assembly
3. When the possibility was considered last March of inviting the United Nations to hold the 1956 General Assembly in London, it had to be abandoned partly because of the need to spend about £3 millions on temporary buildings but mainly because sufficient hotel accommodation could not be provided without serious disruption of the tourist traffic. The second difficulty persists. It is unlikely that hotel accommodation could be found on the scale required for a General Assembly except possibly during the winter (excluding the Christmas period).
4. A permanent centre large enough to accommodate the General Assembly would cost about £7 millions. Management and maintenance would probably cost £150,000 a year. Even if such a centre were provided it is unlikely that meetings of the General Assembly would be held in London more than once in twelve years. No use can be foreseen for most of the space, particularly the offices, in the intervals between these meetings. It would in fact be much cheaper to put up temporary buildings specially for a meeting of the Assembly than to put up and maintain this large centre.
5. The working party concluded, and I agree, that such a centre ought not to be built.
Smaller Centre
6. The working party considered, however, that there is a case for building a smaller centre sufficient to take conferences of up to 500 delegates. The lack of a first-class conference building keeps some international conferences from London. Of 17 conferences of over 300 delegates likely to be held in the next five years none is at present booked for the United Kingdom. Of 30 conferences of between 200 and 300 delegates, 23 will be held in Europe but only 3 of them in the United Kingdom. Provided that the dates of certain trade and sporting events were avoided there should be no insuperable difficulty as regards hotel accommodation for conferences of this size.
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