Lima’s UN house has been named Complejo Javier Pérez de Cuéllar after the Peruvian UN Secretary General who served between 1982 and 1991. It is located in a large unused part of the Puericultorio Pérez Araníbar orphanage, a series of buildings from the early 20th century, some of which house facilities for children who have been abandoned or live in extreme poverty. According to the UN Resident Coordinator in Peru, Jorge Chediek, the new house is “one of the best offices” in the world and hoped it will become “a meeting point to improve human development in Peru”.

The usage of these buildings for 10 years has been agreed with Lima’s Public Charity Board, who will receive $144,000 a year from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). This money will support activities such as occupational workshops and revamped educational facilities offered to children at the orphanage. Through an additional agreement, UNDP will be granting initial (seed) funds to renovate children’s living conditions inside the landmark and expand shelter capacity.

Financed by UNDP, the refurbishment works have retained the original design and architectural features of the buildings, while upgrading them to new environmental and working standards. This includes the use of natural ventilation in most of the compound with further energy saving installations and water recycling to be implemented in an upcoming phase. Future plans include taking advantage of the ocean’s proximity as well as using wind power.

UNOPS was hired to plan and implement the tender for the refurbishment of the UN House, meeting international standards of efficiency and transparency. UNOPS also assessed the technical reports and supervised the refurbishment process, ensuring that the cultural and historic heritage of the buildings was restored while at the same time adapting them to the functional needs of the UN agencies that will occupy them.

The inauguration took place on January 19 on the occasion of the 90th birthday of Javier Pérez de Cuéllar in a joint tribute organized by the Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the UN. Among the guests were the Peruvian president, Alan García, the country’s chancellor, José Antonio García Belaúnde and UNOPS Executive Director, Jan Mattsson. During the ceremony, both Pérez de Cuéllar and Ban Ki-Moon, represented by Antonio Prado, Deputy Executive Secretary of CEPAL, made an appeal for solidarity with the Haitian people in the aftermath of the January 12 earthquake.