The new sponsor body responsible for the £4bn restoration of the Houses of Parliament is to undertake a “deeper and more wide-ranging review” of options for how the project should be carried out than originally planned, including new ways of working developed in response to covid-19.
The sponsor body, which was formally established last month, is the single client accountable to Parliament and oversees a delivery authority, which will carry out the work. It was always the plan that once the sponsor body was set up in law and the delivery authority established.
But that review now promises to be more extensive “given the completely altered political and economic landscape”.
The review will also assess whether a recommendation made in a report five years ago that all MPs and Lords should leave the Palace of Westminster while the work was carried out is still the “best and most cost-effective” option.
A challenge panel to test the review will include government and senior Parliamentary figures.
The sponsor body said that MPs’ attitudes to the restoration and renewal of the Houses of Parliament may have changed in light of covid-19, with other key drivers, arising mainly as a result of the impact on the economy, on public finances and on the population at large. It also pointed out that the House of Commons now contains many new MPs elected for the first time “who may well take a different view of restoration and renewal from members in 2016”.
The review will be led by Sarah Johnson, the sponsor body CEO. Johnson said: “The restoration and renewal of the Houses of Parliament will be the biggest and most complex heritage project ever undertaken in the UK, protecting one of the world’s most recognisable buildings and likely to support thousands of jobs across the country.
“The sponsor body has been set up to ensure that the project is delivered in the most efficient way that delivers value for money. It is entirely appropriate that we should pause at this time to consider the validity of recommendations made over five years ago before either the Sponsor Body or Delivery Authority was formed.
“The impact of the current health crisis on public finances and Parliament’s ways of working has made it even more essential that we review both the strategy for relocating the two Houses and the scope of the restoration of the Palace.”
The review will consider and make recommendations on:
- whether the current solutions present value for money
- what compromises would need to be made to save money
- what opportunities exist for a simpler, quicker and cheaper temporary accommodation
- how ways of working developed in response to Covid-19 affect options or requirements for temporary accommodation
The sponsor body review is launched today (19 May) and is expected to report in the autumn. According to the National Audit Office, Parliament has spent more than £369m on maintenance since 2016. There is an increasing backlog of repairs estimated at over £1 billion.
All the fire, heating, drainage, mechanical and electrical systems need replacing. Steam pipes run alongside electrical cables, and the sewage ejector system installed in 1888 is still in use today. Since the start of 2017 over 40,000 problems have been reported in the Palace.
