TNAG-2963-FCO40-4242-Future-of-Hong-Kong-British-Consulate-General-Steering-Comm-1993 — Page 38

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RECFC IN DE

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02 AUG 1993

CK OFFICEF

CONFIDENTIAL

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Cr-314 Mr Woodrow

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REPORT ON THE STEERING COMMITTEE WORKING GROUP MEETING HELD ON

21 MAY 1993

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1. Mr Hum chaired a meeting of the Steering Committee Working

Group on 21 May. The Working Group discussed the draft MRS

report and confirmed the recommendations on the staffing levels

of the future Consulate General with the exception of that of the passport section. Here the MRS recommended drastic changes with far reaching consequences on the design of the new building and on the timing of its construction. The Working Group considered the three options put forward in the MRS report for dealing with passport work: processing within the Consulate General as far as possible; accommodation in Hong Kong;

processing in separate rented

and sending the passports to the UK

for processing. MRS favoured the last option.

2. OED emphasized the importance of reaching a quick decision

on the MRS report and on the size of the new Consulate General

building as they had to submit to Treasury. They said that any

radical changes to the design at this stage would greatly delay the project. So far work was proceeding on time. But as from

10 June we would be in delay one week for each week. OED said

that their brief for the Consulate General had included a

passport section. Cutting this section now would entail the removal of at least two floors (2,000 sq m). This would require

a major redesigning of the building which could delay the

project by about year. The present design represented a compromise between expected peaks and troughs of passport issuing. It offered sufficient elasticity to cope with all but the extremes of passport demand. The underuse of office space for a part of the time was of little consequence when we did not

have to pay any land costs. RFD said that in view of the major

uncertainty over the staffing requirement for the building they

could not yet agree to a formal submission to Treasury. We had

scwg.21may.NAT

SLM

CONFIDENTIAL