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- GOVERNMENT HOUSE WILL NO LONGER BE DEMOLISHED
-
- Executive Council has decided that the old Government House will remain
standing and will not be demolished. It was reported on Monday, by Chief
Minister the Honourable Ralph T. O'Neal, that the building will be put
to some other use, perhaps a museum.
-
- "The new Governor's residence will be built this year. We are
hoping that work will begin very soon; of course, there are preliminaries
to be done, such as advertising for bids, selecting the contractor and
so on and we are hoping that we can put it on the fast track, as we say
these days," he told reporters. The new Governor's residence will
be built just behind the present House and the old Servant's Quarters will
be demolished.
-
- According to survey reports done by the local firm of Onions, Bouchard
and McCullough, for the Foreign and
- Commonwealth Office, fundamental weaknesses have been identified in
the existing structure. The Island Sun has learnt that several parts of
the existing structure, built of rubble stonewall, in itself has no inherent
strength. Then, there's a reinforced concrete structure around the original
structure, which is said to be in a fairly serious state of decay. The
survey also reportedly discovered that whatever reinforcement there is,
is either rusting and or consists of fairly alarming cracks. In addition,
most of the floors are wooden and are very deteriorated by
- termite action and consequently have been weakened significantly over
the years and there are other areas where the floor boards have broken
through. The roof is partly concrete, wooden and metal and it leaked very
badly at
- one point. This is said to also need serious consideration.
-
- The government of the BVI was faced with the task of deciding whether
to refurbish or demolish the structure. Several designs for a reconstructed
Government House were presented to the public and one was chosen.
- However, a subsequent report from the World Monument Fund recommended
that the existing structure ought to be retain, but they did agree that
it was un-inhabitable.
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- Former Governor David Mackilligin vacated the premises in the summer
of 1996 and when new Governor His Excellency Frank Savage came to the territory,
he was accommodated at the Allamanda Estate, Beef Island, where he currently
resides.
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