Parliament’s Restoration Step Closer as Review Confirms Full Decant

PARLIAMENT’S RESTORATION is a step closer as a review confirmed the temporary relocation of MPs on Parliament’s northern estate, and Peers in the QEII Conference Centre, is the best option. The move is expected to be for several years.

River Thames Access

The review recommends new ways of phasing the restoration work to minimise the time it will take, including accessing Parliament from the river to carry out work.

The plan could see a dry dock erected alongside the Palace, giving engineers much better access along the full length of the building.

A plan to accommodate parliament in a floating platform in the river was previously dismissed as too impractical and costly.

Jobs and apprenticeships

The project is expected to support thousands of jobs and apprenticeships  in high-tech industries such as digital design and engineering, as well as traditional crafts like carpentry and stonemasonry.

An apprentice sharing scheme will see 160 apprentices employed by firms restoring the Palace of Westminster and shared across the project. Young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in social mobility ‘cold spots’ will also be offered paid internships and placements.

Falling Apart

The 150-year-old Parliament building is falling apart faster than it can be fixed. The cost of maintenance projects and ongoing works has doubled in three years to £127m a year in 2018/9.

The review was started last year to look at the way forward. It found that restoring the building while all politicians and peers stayed on-site would cost billions of pounds more and take decades longer than temporarily moving out while work takes place.

Sarah Johnson, Chief Executive of the Restoration and Renewal Sponsor Body, said:

“The iconic home of Parliament is in urgent need of restoration. We will continue preparing a detailed and costed restoration and renewal plan that will for the first time give Parliament a true sense of the costs and timescales of restoring the Palace of Westminster.”

Surveys

The estimated costs and designs will include more than 100 investigative surveys. Specialist teams will be spending thousands of hours analysing the building, including the 1100 rooms and 3000 windows. The team will also look at modernising the building’s facilities for its 3000 workers and visitors arriving every day.

The plan for Parliament’s restoration will be submitted to MPs for final consideration. Work is expected to begin in the mid-2020s.