MPs look set to move out of Houses of Parliament to nearby government buildings for at least six years as part of a £4bn restoration project.
It is expected they will move to nearby buildings as early as 2020 with MPs moving to the Department of Health’s headquarters and the Lords to the QEII conference centre to enable the radical refit.
The Palace of Westminster is in need of extensive renovation because of its crumbling stonework, leaking roofs, and inadequate fire safety measures. The Victorian building also has problems with asbestos.
A senior parliamentary committee made the recommendation for the move in a report today.The report said that vacation of the building is the cheapest solution for the government.
Prime minister Theresa May is expected to back the plans.
The other options that have been proposed are a partial move out, which would take 11 years and cost £4.4bn. Another option would allow the MPs to stay put but would cost £5.7bn and the work would last 32 years.
Ahead of any refurbishment, the entire Palace of Westminster, including the Houses of Parliament, will be modelled in BIM to help planning, design and construction work.
Last year, an independent feasibility study into the required rebuilding at the Palace was carried out by by Deloitte Real Estate, Aecom and HOK. It priced the work at up to £5.7bn and said it could take 32 years to deliver, assuming a rolling programme of work that would allow the seat of government to stay in Westminster.
Move Parliament to Sunderland, Rotherham or Rochdale and let out long leases on the current buildings for much needed housing in the capital. Several problems dealt with in one, at a profit!!!
No point in spending this money on a worn out building. Time to leave the building and invest in a new modern 21 century building that lends itself to a new way of government. Old building, old fashioned – time for a fresh new approach. Let’s use this as a catalyst to make this happen.