New York - The United Nations will begin to relocate the first batch of 6,000 employees at the world headquarters this weekend to offices scattered around New York City before the building shuts down for major reconstruction, the UN said Friday. A first group of 250 employees will be moved to nearby rented space this weekend and 400 others each following weekend through October. The media and offices of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will be the last to move in October.
The 250 journalists from around the world covering the UN will move to the UN library while Ban and his staff will be relocated to newly built offices on the north side of the headquarters.
The renovation the old structure, which was found to have violated all building codes in the United States, will take three to four years. But some UN staff are expected to return to renovated offices in late 2012.
The UN headquarters was inaugurated in 1950 about four years after construction began at the cost of 65 million dollars. The renovation of the 40-storey building will cost 1.8 billion dollars, the funds coming from UN members.
The 18-acre UN compound is situated on Manhattan's East River. The site was originally occupied by slaughterhouses and a railroad barge landing and the land used to belong to the Rockefeller family.
The UN headquarters houses the main secretariat of the world organization, the UN General Assembly and Security Council, and various other meeting rooms. The UN has 192 members who contribute financially for its upkeep.
