(CNS): Despite criticisms of the previous administration over the expenditure on the new government office accommodation project, current government officials were lauding the project this week as it was confirmed the building will be ready to welcome the premier, one its first public sector tenants, in January. Although it has cost around $85 million to build, the GOAP is expected to save government more than $10m per annum in rent and more in utility savings due to its “green” credentials. Works Minister Juliana O’Connor-Connolly said she was pleased with the progress of the building and applauded the project management team, contractor and ministry staff, who, she said, had dedicated considerable time overseeing the project to ensure efficiency.
“Everything’s on time and will be completed inside the contract price of CI$85,530,000.00,” said Chief Project Manager Jim Scott, adding that this would be a turn key delivery. Contractor McAlpine Ltd is supplying a facility fully-fitted with furniture and equipment, while government is providing telecommunications and photocopiers. Delivery of furniture and equipment is already advanced and landscaping is also now underway. Local flora is being incorporated into the design, particularly species which are drought and salt resistant.
Scott said that the building’s initial occupants will include various ministry staff, the governor’s office and the office of the premier.
“The facility should accommodate a full complement of 1026 staff by the year 2013,” Scott added, noting that every effort is being made to ensure that the relocation process will be conducted as efficiently as possible. “Relocation management exercises have started and arrangements are being made for moves to take place in early 2011. While some agencies may experience down time during relocation, we are doing all possible to minimize this so that the public will not be severely affected.”
The facility has a total area of some 240,000 sq ft located on five floors and with a parking garage beneath. “Each floor area is 35,000 sq ft – equivalent to the entire Glasshouse,” Scott explained.
In addition to office accommodation, the facility will house the main government data centre, the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority’s currency operations, a suite of meeting and training rooms, a large conference room, a staff cafeteria and a large lobby for interfacing with the public. A small post office facility will be located on the ground floor, primarily to handle government mail.
The building is also a model in energy-efficiency, environmental-friendliness and functionality. “It is high performance all the way, with enhanced hurricane and earthquake resistance, upgraded security against theft and intrusion and superior energy efficiency and resource conservation. The design builder was tasked to pay particular attention to energy aspects, including the use of geothermal water to drive air-conditioning chillers, under-floor air supply, heat recovery from exhaust systems and efficient electrical systems that maximize the use of LED technology,” Scott revealed.
He added that the air-conditioning systems and finishing and furniture system specs will ensure that they enhance indoor air quality – regarded as essential for healthy staff. Rain water harvesting and condensate water catchment have also been utilized to capture the run-off from roofs and re-utilize it for flushing toilets.
The project is registered with the US Green Building Council for a “LEED certified” (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) award and if successful, this will be the first LEED award in the Caribbean.
Well I like Kurt’s Building, it’s beautiful, efficient but probably already too small!! I do like it. Thank you Kurt, it only took 10 years but well worth it. well done.
So, everytime I drive by I call it Kurt’s Building!!
Thanks to PPM? you people are still confused..thank yourselves; it was mine and your hard earned money that built it and dont forget our childrens too.
Only those politicians who spend at least 20 days in the country should get an office. That requirement ought to free up quite a bit of space.
This building is one of the best looking building in town. This is definately a good investment for the Govt… too bad though they are house broke.
With the behaviour of many of them I am not at all sure that they are house broken.
Not in defense of the color scheme of the building, but to those wondering about the color choices, think Caymanite. I work on the project and kept wondering why the colors and was told the architects wanted to make it Caymanian and Caymanite was the element they based it on. The more i think about it with that sense, the more i actually like it. And yes, it truly is state of the art inside in the sense of sustainability and conservation.
He added that the air-conditioning systems and finishing and furniture system specs will ensure that they enhance indoor air quality – regarded as essential for healthy staff.
Especially since most weight 300 pounds plus. How about teaching about proper healthly lifestyles for the bloated civil service (in more ways than one) – regarded as essential for healthy staff!
All the trappings: ministries, switchboards, computers, fancy cars, world trips, and new furniture.
Appearances are everything.
That building is Cayman’s pride & joy & it is a damn pity that the people who most criticized it & were most against it are the people who will first be occupying it, what a pity. That new building will save our country hundreds of millions over the years, yet for personal reasons the premier & his colleagues did all they could to sell it, therefore I am very sad that the UDP will be the first occupants of Cayman’s pride & joy, a very beautiful building. Congratulations to the PPM for their vision & planning in achieving such success in the face of such envy & fight from the demagogue & his cronies.
Please…. no more stories about the premier.
Thank you PPM
For your vision and hard work in investing in infrastructure and the future of Cayman. OK we should have built one school at a time and the schools should have been a simpler design and phased developments, however at least the investment and the Government spending was on infrastructure for the country which we will all stand to benefit from for many decades to come.
Thank you PPM
Why is that, considering that the Premier went on so badly about the building?!
I guess this is just another requirement in the Constitution.. no surprise here..
Why they couldn’t have chosen an attractive design is beyond me…yes it has all of these facilities and will mean cost savings but it cannot match the Glass House for instilling pride in the people.
The Glasshouse is attractive????
I betcha everything went smooth for them with the new building "codes" in place.
Poor Walkers! It’s ashame they have to go through so much red tape after giving all that work permit money to Government to enable them to build the new Government Building!
Such is life!
The parking Building could not be built at the same time as the CIG building, because the Glass House was still being occupied by the Government and the Parking building is suppose to be built on that same site. This building was built to withstand a major hurricane, so therefore this building should be able to housed all the Government Officials. Therefore, they did not need to have built that 3 storied bunker at the Premier’s house nor that $9 mio one on the Brac for Julianna and her many dignitaries. You people are talking about the PPM wasting money, talk about this current Government ‘s wastage. At lease the PPM were accomplishing and improving the infrastructure, this Government is only talking and critizing the previous Government and making a mess of the Cayman people’s lives. Look at the jobless figures and the many small businesses shutting down, because of their outrageous fees.
So in 8-10 years this building would have paid for itself in savings.
And was there some "genious" who wanted us to sell it?
Let’s set the record straight and make sure that the wrong party does not claim it their success. This is a PPM project andto them the priases should go. UDP like leeches only came in after the fact.
It’s funny how we sit here and see all the crap UDP chooses to spend money on and we fail to give PPM their true praise. In life I believe in calling things as they are. PPM spending though high and a bit ill timed was all about things for the people of the Cayman Islands. You didn’t see them spending gazillions on their security or new cars or jetsetting around the world. They built buildings we needed and tried to get the infrastructure in place that was necessary.
PPM is not perfect but in my eyes they were far more about the people of the Cayman Islands than UDP seems to be.
UDP slogan about change is so true. They want all the change you and me have in our pockets.
this beuatiful building is for the ppl of the Cayman Islands only an idiot would want to sell it
Alden messed up big time when he didn’t use a local contractor like Macalpine to build the schools, and build them more simple like the new addition at prep school..we would have had our schools built
Alden is a Lawyer. He knows nothing about Building. So you have to accept that he did what was right without the knowledge to know if what he was doing was right. "Right" Wrong" I am also confused.
it really only takes common sense the design of the schools were too ambitious… we needed schools yes not palaces…and him being a lawyer-i expect better
Some mistakes were made yes. But in time history will show that the past PPM Administration was thebest Government Cayman has ever had. Unfortunately there seems to have been a lot of confused people who voted in the last election. What was worse than that was the people who knew what they were doing and voted UDP because of handouts and for personal favours. Those kind of people will always vote that way. We can only hope that those who were confused will have had their eyes opened at the end of four years of this kind of government.
He should be the last one in the CIG, because he did not want it in the first place. I think Kurt Tibbetts should be the first, since he got the project moving.
I cant wait for it to be occupied .As a courrier having to deliver lots of things to the government all the time .Calls have to be made to ask where are you located everytime as the phone book say one thing but that is not so.I cant wait for lots of these nessacery offices to come together under one roof .Thanks to PPM for having this insite on where the gov could save millions in rent money.
Wonder if they had the foresight to build high rise parking to save some of those expensive vehichles in case of future hurricanes?
They do have a high rise parking area
It is just a shame the parking structure was not built at the same time!!
A proper qualified CIG project management team from day 1 to keep order and the results are…on time and on budget. Unlike the new schools, where zero qualified management staff on the Govt side predictably proved a very very costly (PPM) decision that has already cost the country literally tens of millions of dollars and counting – a nightmare court case ongoing which CIG has every chance of losing. Will anyone ever be held accountable at Min Ed for its awful unbelievable decison making? What a s**tshow.
Well done Mr Jim Scott and his team. No wonder the Premier has done a U turn, I dont blame him.
Lovely don’t forget Helipad on the roof for easy access to the airport this is a must. Also can be used for quick escapes in the event of civic unrest.
Oh well….the Pharaohs built pyramids.