It will be business as usual from Tuesday 8 August 2006 when the IMO Secretariat is fully installed in temporary offices while the IMO Headquarters building on Albert Embankment is refurbished.

For approximately 12 months between the summers of 2006 and 2007, the 300-strong Secretariat will work out of offices provided by the Host Government, located at No. 55 Victoria Street, London, SW1H OEU, and the meetings of the Council, Committees and Sub Committees will be held elsewhere in London and abroad.

All current telephone and fax numbers and email addresses remain unchanged and all mail will be automatically redirected to the Victoria Street address.

Full details are available on the IMO website home page under IMO Secretariat relocation .

The aim of the refurbishment is to create and, eventually, pass on to the next generation of IMO delegates and staff, a building worthy of the technological, IT and communication facilities of the 21st century - one, which will also incorporate state-of-the-art safety, security and occupational health features.

The IMO Library Information Services
The IMO Library will reopen on 4 September at the Victoria Street premises. There will be an essential collection of books and reports which can be searched through a tailor-made database. All other services will remain available.

IMO meetings
During the period of the refurbishment, regular IMO meetings will be held at other venues in London, with the exception of the 92nd session of the Legal Committee, from 16 to 20 October 2006, which will be held in Paris, and the 82nd session of the Maritime Safety Committee, which will be held in Istanbul from 29 November to 8 December 2006.

Additionally, a diplomatic conference will be held in Nairobi, Kenya, from 14 to 18 May 2007, to consider the adoption of a new Wreck Removal Convention.

Briefing 28, 3 August 2006

For further information please contact:
Lee Adamson, Head, Public Information Services on 020 7587 3153 (media@imo.org) or
Natasha Brown, External Relations Officer on 020 7587 3274 (media@imo.org).