UN Capital Master Plan – Report for the Board of Auditors

The Capital Master Plan is a complex, high-value and high-profile project to modernise, secure and preserve the architecture of the United Nations’ Headquarters 1950s campus in New York. In resolution 57/292, the General Assembly requested the Board of Auditors (the ‘Board’) to report annually on the project.  

This $2 billion refurbishment project was in its 10th year when Concerto were asked by the UK Board of Auditors to review the progress of the Capital Master Plan. Some 3 years behind schedule and with costs approaching $2.5 billion, the programme team was facing significant challenges.

Concerto led a review team comprising our own people and experts from the National Audit Office.

Working in partnership, we reviewed the costs, the project management arrangements, the governance and the roles of the project leaders. We examined the way interfaces were being managed between design teams and we examined the way changes were being managed and controlled.

Our recommendations included advice on

• the robustness and analytical basis of the cost forecasting,
• techniques for forecasting milestone completion,
• contingency planning and in particular how to relate risks to their weighted cost in the total cost forecast and
• the benefits of cost forecasting and producing costed options.

We also noted that the UN office spaces was being fitted out on the basis of one person to one desk and made recommendation for future occupancy density studies that would have a major financial benefit for the UN around its global estate.