Turning the United Nations Green

(page 2 of 2)

The U.N. Building in New York.

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'Nameplate' Project

"For us, [green building] is fairly routine. It's part of our corporate culture," says Steve Pressler, area general manager of Skanska's New York office. "We have LEED-accredited professionals on staff so that we can make sure we use all the appropriate techniques and understand all the designer's intentions." And while Silver is far from Platinum (the LEED system's top rating), the weight afforded to thinking green from the earliest stages is important.

Skanska is eager to start on what it's calling a "nameplate" project. The construction firm is already known for large-scale projects such as the AirTrain railway that goes from JFK Airport to Jamaica, Queens, and the new Giants-Jets stadium at the Meadowlands. But in terms of building its global profile, the U.N. HQ project is a huge coup.

Not an easy one to pull off, of course. Daryl Dulaney, chief executive of Siemens Building Technologies, a Buffalo Grove (Ill.) subsidiary of global giant Siemens (SI), points to the huge challenges of engineering the new infrastructure and coordinating new technologies. For their part, Skanska and Adlerstein are concerned with how to renovate the buildings while the U.N. is in session.

Time to Get Started

The renovation will occur in stages, with builders working from top to bottom, 10 floors at a time. Displaced members of the Secretariat building will be set up in leased office buildings in Manhattan and Queens, while there will also be a temporary building on the campus to house the General Assembly while it continues to operate.

Mostly, it's important that the building renovation not be delayed any longer. Infrastructure problems will only get worse, and the current volatility of the construction market means that material costs are on the rise—and building leases more expensive to procure. U.N. officials anticipate a 7.5% inflation rate for materials and services needed to complete the project and, as Adlerstein says drily, "Time is money." As such, the much-needed renovation might seem somewhat untimely, but Adlerstein insists that this is the right moment for a makeover.

Paula Lehman is an editorial assistant for BusinessWeek in New York.