TNAG-2961-FCO40-4240-Future-of-Hong-Kong-British-Consulate-General-building-incl-1993 — Page 87

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is also below the Treasury published Supply Estimates for 1993/94 which state in table 1 that the cost of the Hong Kong project is £29m. Nevertheless we continue to look at ways of reducing the

costs:

(a)

Reduce further the requirements of the Consulate-General and British Council

To achieve any real cost savings on construction we would need to reduce by a whole floor. The British Council have completed their final review of their requirements and have identified a saving of 320m2 nett (approximately half a floor). But this space can be immediately and more sensibly utilised by Procurement Section (nett requirements 360m2) who were omitted from the Consulate- General side in our earlier cost savings exercise: this will prevent the need for Procurement Unit to be housed off site in more expensive leased premises. The FCO/ODA Management Review Staff (MRS) have carried out a further review of future staffing of the Consulate- General. Their interim report suggests that the previously envisaged staffing requirements generally remain right, except those for the Passport Section, which has to meet a variable 10 year cyclical demand. The main implication of this is that the currently designed passport space could be underused to the extent of about one floor (1000m2 gross) for five out of every 10 year cycle, if other uses were not found to occupy the space. We are now considering various options, including partial renting.

(b) Omit all the residential accommodation and amenities.

(c)

It is our strongly-held view that the flats represent particularly good value for money; they are thoroughly cost-effective as compared to renting and should be retained. They also have an operational value from being on site.

Reduce the building specification

The current estimate includes savings already made by optimisation of the substructure design on this difficult sloping site, and by reducing some of the specifications and refinements to the designs. We, and particularly Swires (who have a developer's expertise in this area),

PCAS3.784

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