Search for chair to lead Parliament’s £4bn renovation begins

The House of Lords and House of Commons have begun the search for a chair to head an Olympic-style delivery authority and sponsor body to oversee the £4bn renovation of the Palace of Westminster.

Whoever takes on the £40,000-a-year post will head up a sponsor board of around a dozen members, which will include a mixture of parliamentarians and four other externally recruited board members.

The sponsor body, which comprises the sponsor board and its executive team will own the business case, the scope, the specification, and the budget for the programme.

It will act as a single client for the programme and will be accountable to Parliament.

The sponsor board will also be responsible for setting up the delivery authority, likely to be a limited company, to run the programme.

The chair is expected to have experience as chair of boards of organisations responsible for multi-billion-pound budgets as well as experience of leadership and “deep expertise in the types of issues that are likely to be important in the restoration and renewal programme” according to details about the job posted on the Houses of Parliament restauration and renewal website.

The other board members, who are expected to have board level experience in a complex organisation, will receive a salary of £24,000 a year.

The hugely complex scheme to restore and renovate the Palace of Westminster will involve decanting all politicians and support staff from the Houses of Parliament.

For Construction Manager’s full report on the scale of the job facing the Palace’s estates team, click here.