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before transfer of sovereignty. To do this, we should want
to start construction work on site in mid-1993. The
executive Project Managers (Swire Properties Projects Ltd) and our Architects (once selected) will already have their
work cut out to achieve this date. We therefore need to
appoint our Architects quickly, so that the process of
further refinement of the brief and the necessary changes to
the design can be started very soon. Otherwise, we shall
be in danger of eating into the consolidation year. Delays could also cause steep cost escalation, given that the labour and materials demands of the airport works could by
then be driving up construction costs in Hong Kong.
10. Mr Day has proposed that a re-definition of post objectives should precede decisions on the design of the new
building. In fact, we see no case for wholesale review of BTC objectives, and any changes likely to result from Mr Day's ideas will only affect staffing at the margin.
He
11. His pre-occupation with this issue reflects a wider tendency to establish his own position in Hong Kong by finding fault with everything that his predecessor did. is unhappy with the residence in the Albany, with the
physical arrangement of the BTC and with his predecessor's
"profile" in Hong Kong. There were very well-known difficulties in Mr Heap's relationship with the former
Governor. But Mr Heap was highly successful in building up the BTC's role in assisting British companies to win some of
the mammoth projects on offer in Hong Kong. Mr Heap's
personal efforts received tributes from a number of company
chairmen, including Mr Prior, and prominent local
businessmen. I know that Ministers thought well of his
performance. In short, Mr Day has in my judgement adopted
an unnecessarily harsh view of the operation he has
inherited.
BE3ABR/4
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