Skanska Wins $1B Renovation of U.N. Headquarters

July 30, 2007
By Michael Fickes, Contributing Correspondent

New York City-based Skanska USA Building will serve as construction manager to rebuild and renovate the United Nations’ headquarters in New York City (pictured). The project will encompass six buildings with 2.6 million square feet spread over 17 acres. The anticipated value of the work is approximately $1 billion, the largest facility investment in U.N. history.

Skanska won a competitive negotiation for the project. “The differentiator for us was proposing an international core management team with individuals from all over the world, including the United Kingdom, Ireland Sweden and the Ukraine,” a spokesperson for Skanska told CPN this morning.

At its peak, the Skanska management team will include as many as 70 people, while the labor force will likely grow to 1,200.

Work will begin this year and continue in phases through 2014. For each phase, Skanska will negotiate separate Guaranteed Maximum Price contracts. Upon the submission of a price, the U.N. has the right to accept or reject Skanska’s pricing.

In an early phase of work, Skanska will manage the construction of a temporary facility to house the General Assembly throughout the renovation.

The rebuilding and renovations will include a number of environmentally friendly building features designed to earn a LEED Silver Rating. Green features will include new glass curtain walls for the Secretariat building, as well as the installation of state-of-the-art distribution systems for electricity, fresh air, steam, and chilled water to cool the buildings. The architects anticipate that these features will reduce energy usage in the complex by 30 percent.

Additional environmental features under consideration include green roofs to cut energy costs, improve air quality, and manage water runoff better; remote light collectors that can bring natural daylight into basements and other areas; a gray-water collection system that would provide water for outdoor plants and flushing toilets; and a green wall of plants in the cafeteria to help clean indoor air.

Skanska is also building the $998 million Giants and Jets football stadium at the Meadowlands in New Jersey, and the company’s civil group was recently awarded a $1 billion drinking water plant just north of New York City.

The 39-story UN Secretariat Building was completed in 1950, followed by the Conference Building and General Assembly Building in 1951 and 1952. Other facilities, such as the Dag Hammarskjold Library, North Lawn Building and South Annex Building, were built between 1961 and 1982.


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