Strategic Heritage Plan of the United Nations Office at Geneva

A/RES/79/297View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 139 Proposed programme budget for 2025, published in 2025.

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report · 2025

Year	Symbol	Title		Mandate resolution
2025	A/80/435	Twelfth annual progress report on the Strategic Heritage Plan of the United Nations Office at Geneva report of the Secretary-General		A/RES/79/297

What subjects does this mandate have?

6 subjects

Costs Geneva (Switzerland)Maintenance and Repair Office Buildings Project Finance Project Management

What’s in this document?

24 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General;

Endorses the conclusions and recommendations contained in the report of the Advisory Committee;

Welcomes the continued support of the Government of Switzerland for the construction project in Geneva;

Stresses the importance of close coordination between the strategic heritage plan project team and the Secretariat in New York, in particular the Global Asset Management Policy Service, to ensure success in all aspects of the project;

Also stresses the importance of effective governance, oversight, transparency and accountability in the management of the project to ensure that the project objectives are achieved on time and within budget;

Requests the Secretary-General to continue to ensure that the procurement of goods and services for the construction project is carried out in strict compliance with the existing regulations, rules and relevant provisions of General Assembly resolutions governing procurement in the United Nations;

Also requests the Secretary-General to ensure that the project team takes vendors, notably from developing countries and countries with economies in transition, fully into account and to report on the specific steps taken and progress achieved in the context of increasing procurement opportunities for vendors from developing countries and countries with economies in transition in the implementation of the strategic heritage plan;

Further requests the Secretary-General to ensure that all activities promote cost-efficiency and transparency, are implemented within existing resources and in accordance with the United Nations legislative framework, including the Financial Regulations and Rules, while maintaining full accountability to the General Assembly;

Requests the Secretary-General to ensure maximum utilization of building H;

Also requests the Secretary-General to ensure that any change that affects the scope of the strategic heritage plan project is presented for the consideration and decision of the General Assembly;

Notes with concern that the project has used a total of 92,917,000 Swiss francs in contingencies to date, and strongly reiterates that the use of the contingency provision should be tightly monitored and limited to the absolute minimum;

Decides to approve a revised estimated cost of the strategic heritage plan in the maximum amount of 924,244,000 Swiss francs to implement the scope of the project as approved in its resolution 70/248 A;

Requests the Secretary-General to complete, within the revised budget, as set out in paragraph 12 above, and within the revised timeline for the project, the remaining construction elements that are both interdependent and required for code compliance and excluding items that are independent and beyond code compliance;

Also requests the Secretary-General to ensure the substantial completion of the strategic heritage plan by 31 December 2027, and decides that any further increase in costs of the strategic heritage plan beyond the approved budget should be funded from voluntary contributions;

Stresses that any increase to the maximum overall budget must be approved by the General Assembly before entering into corresponding financial commitments;

Recalls paragraph 41 of the report of the Advisory Committee;

Regrets further delays incurred in the project, and requests the Secretary-General to make utmost and every effort to strictly abide by the approved revised budget and schedule, including through tight cost control, regular and proactive review of risks, value engineering and cost-saving measures, notes such measures undertaken to date, and looks forward to receiving further information in his next progress report;

Requests the Secretary-General to ensure maximum utilization of the renovated historical buildings, including by enabling Member States to fully utilize the Secretariat’s common meeting rooms;

Also requests the Secretary-General to avoid any potential duplication between the strategic heritage plan and the alteration, improvement and major maintenance of the United Nations Office at Geneva under section 33 of the regular budget;

Appreciates the existing voluntary contributions received from Member States to finance the strategic heritage plan, and requests the Secretary-General to remain proactive in seeking both voluntary and in-kind contributions from Member States, as well as donations by private entities, in full compliance with all relevant rules and regulations of the Organization and agreements related to donations for the strategic heritage plan, and to provide detailed information on this matter in the context of his next progress report;

Requests the Secretary-General to make all possible efforts to mobilize further voluntary contributions, aiming for at least 24 million Swiss francs to help to offset the total cost of the renovation of building B and conference rooms in building E, in full compliance with all relevant rules and regulations of the Organization and agreements related to donations, and notes that the appropriations for Member States under section 33 will be reduced according to voluntary contributions received;

Also requests the Secretary-General to provide more information on the use of conference space at the United Nations Office at Geneva by non-governmental organizations in the context of his next progress report on the strategic heritage plan at the main part of its eightieth session;

Further requests the Secretary-General to ensure that remaining recommendations of the Board of Auditors are implemented fully and expeditiously;

Requests the Secretary-General to continue documenting best practices and lessons learned from capital construction projects, including value engineering, multistage request for proposals and the use of local materials and knowledge, and to consider their application, as appropriate, to ensure that the objectives of the projects are achieved within the approved budget and timeline.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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