UN Global Warming Centre to be constructed in San Francisco

Hunter's Point Shipyard is one of the most polluted sites in the United States of America. Filled with radiation and industrial toxins, it has all the kind of pollutants you'd expect to find in a former naval shipyard. However, instead of letting this site continue to damage the local environment, the city has decided to renovate the area and build the UN Global Compact Centre in its place.

Due to be completed in 2012, the Star Trek-esque building will be a world class climate change think tank and green tech incubator, designed to focus on promoting sustainable and clean technologies.

In a statement, San Francisco's Mayor Gavin Newsom said, ""Locating the UN Global Compact Center in San Francisco will reinforce our city's commitment to global justice and sustainability."

"Once completed, the United Nations centre can serve as an anchor for other sustainable businesses at the Shipyard in much the same way that the University of California and the Stem Cell Institute have anchored Mission Bay's burgeoning bio-tech and life sciences cluster."

Construction begins in 2011 and one of the main obstacles will be the clean up of toxins in the area, however if successful the site could serve as an inspiration for other toxic sites in the country that are currently left to fester.

Once completed, the $20 million UN Global Compact Centre will accommodate UN offices, a clean tech incubator, and a conference center within its 80,000 square feet of space. The surrounding area is also to be developed with the construction of 10,000 new homes, 300 acres of new parks, a major new retail and arts center, and over 2,000,000 square feet of commercial space destined to serve as the largest cluster of green technology companies and institutions on the western seaboard.

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