TNAG-2664-FCO40-3860-Future-of-Hong-Kong-British-Consulate-General-1992 — Page 43

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6. EXCO and the Sino-British Land Commission agreed to the

Colvin House site in September 1991. At that point, we

established a Steering Committee chaired by Mr Burns to

ensure that all aspects of the project were coordinated (as required by DSP Annex 22). The Steering Committee, composed

of all interested FCO departments and the British Council,

first met in October 1991. It reviewed the staffing

forecast and the consequent Schedule of Requirements and set

in hand scrutiny of a number of underlying assumptions,

particularly on the requirement for passport/

immigration/consular services.

7. A OED-led team then visited Hong Kong in November 1991

for consultations with users of the building, including the

BTC, before drawing up the design brief. After a further

Steering Committee meeting in November, the draft design

brief was circulated to interested departments and the BTC, and was finalised in January 1992. The latest meeting of

the Steering Committee, on 9 June, reconfirmed that

departments remained content with the staffing forecasts and

agreed unanimously to recommend the design from the Farrell

Group.

8. It was at that stage that Mr Day's doubts about functions and design of the building began to emerge.

Some

B of Mr Day's problems (set out in a further telegram of 9

July) can be dealt with in the normal process of refining

the design. Others are more fundamental such as the British Council's need for a multi-purpose hall

and appear to envisage setting aside three years of intensive work and starting again from scratch.

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9. That would have implications for the completion of the

project. The objective is to occupy the new buildings in

mid-1996, so that we have a year's consolidation in them

BE3ABR/3

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