Tag: Houses of Parliament Restoration and Renewal Programme

Restoration and Renewal of the Palace of Westminster

National Audit Office assesses progress of Parliament Restoration and Renewal Programme    

A new National Audit Office (NAO) report examines the progress and evidence underlying the costed proposals for the programme to restore and renew the Palace of Westminster (the Palace) and assesses them against established practice to determine whether the programme is currently set up for success.

The Palace, a Grade I listed building within a UNESCO World Heritage site, requires extensive restoration to address serious risks, including failing mechanical and electrical systems, fire safety issues and high levels of asbestos.

The Restoration and Renewal Programme (the Programme) is intended to address these concerns.

The Programme is now at a critical stage, with parliamentary approval being sought to reduce the number of options from four to two.

The two recommended options are:

  • Full decant: £11.1 billion to £15.6 billion, 19 to 24 years
  • Enhanced Maintenance and Improvement plus (EMI+): £19.5 billion to £39.2 billion, 38 to 61 years

Building on its previous work, this new report by the independent public spending watchdog finds that further delaying the decision on which option to pursue carries risks to achieving value for money, with each year of delay adding between £320 million to £420 million to the overall cost of delivering the Programme.

Although the options and their underlying estimates have been through a standard process of development and have been subject to internal and external checks to examine and assure them, all are at an early stage and are likely to face cost and schedule pressures as designs develop.

The costed proposals provide enough information for a decision, although the EMI options are less developed and more uncertain.

The proposals also recommend that Parliament approves an initial seven-year programme of ‘Phase One’ enabling works capped at £3 billion.

Undertaking these works is a sensible approach, as this allows the Programme to progress while managing several risks. But plans for how the works will be overseen and delivered need to be finalised.

Suitable temporary accommodation is essential if the Houses are to decant and Parliament is to function properly. All Programme options depend on this accommodation being ready on time, but current risks could delay the move, particularly the full decant option.

The Programme must also strengthen its governance arrangements to be able to bear down on cost, schedule and scope; manage interdependencies across the Programme; and support Parliament’s decision on the final delivery option.

To put the Programme on a stronger footing, the NAO recommends that the responsible delivery teams:

  • publish and regularly update a clear, non-technical summary, potentially alongside its business case, akin to Strategy and Delivery Plans used for mega-projects
  • provide cost estimate ranges for all ‘Phase One’ work packages and set out how interdependencies between key projects will be managed
  • ensure that links and decision-making responsibilities between projects across the Programme and related work on the Parliamentary estate are managed through a single, integrated delivery plan
  • work with MPs and Lords at speed to create a clear vision for how each House, and Parliament as a whole, will operate in their temporary accommodation
  • review the Programme’s governance arrangements to set clear requirements and hold those delivering to account

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, said: “Today’s NAO report on the Restoration and Renewal of the Palace of Westminster provides valuable information to parliamentarians on the costs of the proposals and the significant decisions they will need to make.

“This project will affect the working lives of parliamentarians and staff for many decades to come. It is therefore vital that they are provided with comprehensive and accurate information in advance of a parliamentary vote, so that they can reach an informed judgement on this important matter.”

Westminster Parliament’s underground secrets to be examined

Small businesses appointed to next stage of restoration work

  • Experts will dig boreholes to carry out underground investigations and carry out archaeological digs, look at how best to repair crumbling historic stonework, and inspect asbestos in more detail.
  • Suppliers from across the country will carry out in-depth survey work, with two thirds classed as small and medium sized businesses.
  • Palace of Westminster investigations are vital to continue developing most detailed record of Parliament ever created ahead of essential restoration programme.

Engineers and construction experts planning the essential work to save the failing Palace of Westminster will soon be unearthing the 150-year-old building’s secrets as part of the next stage of detailed and in-depth investigations.

Investigators will carry out dozens of detailed building surveys, looking at historic stonework, digging boreholes to carry out underground examinations, carrying out archaeological digs, and mapping out asbestos in more detail.

Tens of thousands of hours of building surveys have already been carried out as the Houses of Parliament Restoration and Renewal Programme, set up in law to save and restore the building, develops a detailed plan that will for the first time set out costs and timescales for the essential work. Parliament will be invited to approve this detailed plan next year.

In recent months, surveyors have been looking at a range of issues, including crumbling stonework and cracking ceilings. Over the Christmas recess, dozens of experts surveyed hundreds of areas for potential asbestos. Next month, teams will carry out a further 19 studies over Parliament’s February recess period.

The next phase will see engineers and surveyors undertaking larger and more in-depth surveys to understand the condition of Parliament in far greater detail than ever before. This work is essential as the restoration programme develops the detailed and costed restoration plan which Parliament will be invited to approve next year.

Experts will dig around 20 boreholes to develop an understanding of the ground conditions at the Palace of Westminster to assist in ongoing design work.

Elsewhere, building measuring devices will be installed across Parliament to monitor any structural movement. Specialist teams will continue to inspect the hundreds of miles of power cables, gas, water and heating pipes and sewerage, and further in-depth asbestos surveys will be carried out to build on existing records.

Specialist heritage teams are also getting on with the enormous task of recording and tagging every one of the 13,000 heritage items including furniture, artwork and statues, all of which will need removing and storing in controlled conditions during the programme of work to restore the Palace of Westminster.

David Goldstone, CEO of the Houses of Parliament Restoration and Renewal Delivery Authority, said: “Small businesses are at the heart of local economies, bringing growth, and innovation, so I’m delighted to be working with so many from right across the country as we carry out dozens more intensive surveys of the Palace of Westminster.

“The hard work of these specialists will be invaluable in developing the detailed plan for Parliament’s restoration and renewal that will for the first time set out the true costs of the work needed to save the building.”

Sarah Johnson, CEO of the Houses of Parliament Restoration and Renewal Sponsor Body said: “Our thorough and careful work to map out all the issues that need fixing within the Palace of Westminster is a vital part of the essential restoration of the iconic 150-year-old building.”

Following a thorough procurement process, 18 businesses have been appointed to a commercial framework agreement, with around £10m of contracts expected this year to investigate the Palace as the detailed restoration plan continues to be developed.

Of the 18 businesses appointed, over two thirds (67%) are small to medium sized, showing the opportunity for firms of all sizes and from across the nation to be involved in the restoration of the Palace of Westminster.  

In total, there are eight categories where suppliers have been appointed.

The categories are:

  • Civil Engineering / Structural
  • Ground Investigations & Geotechnical
  • Instrumentation & Monitoring
  • Environmental
  • Mechanical, Electrical & Public Health
  • Archaeology
  • Asbestos Removal
  • Conservation Contractor

The new framework agreement sets up the next tranche of more detailed and intrusive surveys which are an essential step in the development of a detailed and costed restoration and renewal plan for Palace of Westminster which Parliament will be invited to approve next year.

Despite the dedicated work of Parliament’s in-house teams, the building itself is falling apart faster than it can be fixed and needs a programme of essential restoration.

The annual cost of maintenance and ongoing projects to keep the building operating continues to increase. Costs have doubled in just three years, to £127m a year – more than £2.5m a week. The National Audit Office recently stated that House authorities expect to spend another £308m on repairs and maintenance by 2025.

Over the summer and autumn of 2021, 50 highly skilled engineers, architectural surveyors, acoustics, lighting specialists and ecologists, spent a combined 4,700 hours visually inspecting the building.

In total, 2,343 rooms and spaces were examined, with experts recording thousands of issues including cracks in stonework, widespread water damage, and analysing the complex network of outdated electrical and mechanical systems.

Further surveying conducted throughout winter examined lighting levels, building risers and the presence of asbestos.

Throughout 2022 and 2023 hundreds of further in-depth surveys will be carried out, building on tens of thousands of hours of investigations already completed.

Individual survey contracts within the new framework are expected to be announced from March onwards, with building investigators on-site soon after.  Every supplier will go through the same rigorous security checks as existing Parliamentary contractors and suppliers.

The 18 successful suppliers scored highly (75%) on a new Government procurement measure aimed at levelling up, that considers the number of local jobs or apprenticeships a contractor will provide, the care they show the environment in their business practices, how they drive equal opportunity and the number of SMEs involved in their wider supply chain.

The measure came into effect in January 2021 to promote new jobs and skills, encourage economic growth and prosperity, tackle climate change and level up the UK.

There will be many more opportunities for SMEs to get involved in the Restoration and Renewal programme, which is meeting business groups across the UK as it develops a commercial, procurement and skills development approach.

Restoring the building will create thousands of jobs across the UK, including through an industry-leading apprentice loan scheme that will see around 160 apprentices, including engineers, designers, stonemasons, and carpenters, employed by the organisations overseeing and delivering the restoration of the Palace of Westminster and loaned to UK businesses working on the restoration.