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This was the floor containing the FCO Procurement Unit on the Consulate side and the multi-purpose hall and ancillary rooms
on the Council side. OED had already discussed this informally with Mr Jarvis in Hong Kong who had indicated that this was likely to be regarded in Hong Kong as preferable to the deletion of the accommodation provision. The deletion of the floor would save about £1.5 million. The British Council also accepted the deletion of the car park adjacent to their side of the building provided that at least two spaces were reserved for their official cars elsewhere on the site. This would provide a saving of another £0.5 million. In addition OED believed that by further cheese-paring and strict cost control and a modest contribution from their capital budget, it would be possible to find a further £0.5 million. The Committee believed that these measures would put us in a stronger position to argue for the remaining £1.5 million from the Treasury.
8.
Mr Hum asked whether the Immigration and Passport sections of the new Consulate General really needed all the space that
had been allocated to them. In the absence of a representative from MVD, HKD undertook to look again at the issue with departments concerned. [ACTION: HKD].
9. Mr Hum asked how quickly a decision on these design changes had to be taken in view of the fact that construction was due to begin soon. OED thought that if we could let Terry Farrell have a steer in a couple of weeks these changes could be made without delaying the project. OED considered that the design changes need not hold up Swires' application to the Hong Kong Planning Committee. The Committee decided therefore that we should formally ask for the views of Mr Day's Coordinating Committee in Hong Kong on the proposals put
forward and that we should submit to Ministers, as soon as possible, on the progress made in the project and on the
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