TNAG-2959-FCO40-4238-Future-of-Hong-Kong-British-Consulate-General-building-incl-1993 — Page 19

Reference.

4. Mr Bertram considers that these cuts were all within the remit given by the last meeting of the Steering Committee. accepted that the Steering Committee had not been briefed on the possibility of losing one more flat, or of losing the link between the two buildings. Nevertheless, Farrells have to be instructed. If the instructions later had to be modified, then so be it.

-

the

5. Planning Permission Application has been delayed changes now envisaged would have meant putting in a second submission.

I

6.

PTG Mr Bertram had seen Mr Rickett's letter to Mr Sze. explained that an acknowledgement had arrived and that we must now sit back and wait for a week or so. I explained that Mr Ricketts was in regular telephone contact with Mr Sze so that we could hope for or solicit some feed back before too long.

7.

Hong Kong Coordinating Committee It was agreed that OED would draft (and clear with us) a telegram to Mr Day after the next Farrells' meeting to update Hong Kong.

8.

Co-location with British Council Mr Bertram said that the FCO would need to tell the British Council where matters stood. The PES bid had of course been a joint one. It had never been broken down between the two bodies. In fact the British Council had just over a third of the space. Although in theory they could legitimately be approached to provide some of the money which OED would be looking for in its budget, in practice the British Council had no funds for a capital project of this scale. In theory they could be charged rent but this too was problematic. Nevertheless OED would be looking at the available options, if only to knock them down in the submission.

9.

Mr Goodlad's visit to OED Mr Goodlad will be visiting OED on 24 February. He had asked to be briefed on all projects which would be going forward during the next 12 months. This provided an obvious opportunity to take him over the Hong Kong project. The submission would prepare the ground. *

10.

Mr Bertram asked that Mr Ricketts and Mr Hum be made aware of the ground covered at this meeting. He said that he was very much aware that delay at this stage would mean delay in the occupation of the building. He wanted to avoid this, but it was also important to get things right.

Did we

anticipate calling a Steering Group meeting to clear the submission, or could this be done between departments most interested? (I said I would check but thought we probably would need to call a meeting, perhaps limited to those who might wish to contribute to the submission).

min.donstruction.NAT

JEB

CODE 18-77