MPs Should Vacate Parliament For Six-Year Renovation Project

“It’s obviously crucial we get the most cost-effective solution that we can and ensure best value for money for the taxpayer while also preserving one of the most iconic landmarks in Britain”. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.

While the danger is not structural, the building “faces an impending crisis which we can not responsibly ignore”, says the report.

The warning comes from a parliamentary committee of MPs and peers, which recommends politicians should move out for the work to take place.

It is thought that Parliament would then temporarily set up shop in Richmond House, a hideously ugly building just opposite Downing Street on Whitehall, which now houses the Department of Health.

Parliament would have to approve the decision.

“The Palace of Westminster, a masterpiece of Victorian and medieval architecture and engineering, faces an impending crisis which we can not responsibly ignore”, a special parliamentary committee on the building notes in a published report.

A study by Deloitte previous year highlighted potentially deadly fire risks, collapsing roofs, crumbling walls, leaking pipes and large quantities of asbestos.

A report from consultancy firm Deloitte a year ago set out three options for the renovation programme: removing both Houses of Parliament, relocating one of the Houses, and keeping both on site.

Last night the Times reported Theresa May will today give the green light to the £4billion overhaul of the entire estate after a 14-month deliberation by MPs on the Commons restoration committee.

But there were major issues with the services and utilities installed in the building, it said.

“Many of these systems were replaced in the late 1940s and reached the end of their projected life in the 1970s and 1980s”.

“The patch-and-mend approach which has seen the building through the decades is no longer sustainable”.

“Intervention on a much larger scale is required”.

“Although the building is formally designated as a Royal Palace, those who work in it will be all too familiar with stories of flooding, power failures, fire hazards, freezing-cold rooms in the winter and boiling-hot offices in the summer”, said the report’s summary.

The report which originally detailed a range of options for the restorations to be carried out was published a year ago and said: “If the Palace was not a listed building of the highest heritage value, its owners would probably be advised to demolish and rebuild”.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: “We are awaiting the report and will respond in due course”.