Saturday, April 25, 2020
The cost of restoration
With Parliament now meeting virtually now is surely the time to proceed with the much-needed restoration of these historic and iconic buildings. However, as ever MPs cannot agree amongst themselves and nobody in government seems keen to push the project forward, apparently content to see the buildings fall down around them, while projected costs continue to soar out of control.
The Guardian reports that National Audit Office (NAO) has called on the group tasked with the Palace of Westminster’s multi-billion-pound overhaul to take a firm grip on the process after the budget for Big Ben’s construction works alone rose by 176%:
In a report released on Friday, sponsor board members, who took control of the repair programme this month, have been urged to come up with a clear plan so they are not thrown off by competing interests, especially among MPs.
Auditors have also disclosed that an estimated £149.6m to develop the business case in 2020-21 was rejected by the palace’s authorities partly because of concerns about the impact of the pandemic. Formally appointed on 8 April, the board is due to submit a business case, which will include a budget range and full details of the work involved, by 2022.
Before parliament voted in 2018 to approve the renewal works, which will entail decanting the whole building for at least six years, MPs had pushed rival plans that would have seen only a partial vacating required, forcing builders to work around the Commons schedule.
Alternative ideas have been raised again since the coronavirus outbreak. The former public accounts committee chair Sir Edward Leigh said “saving public money” should be the primary concern and last month called on the sponsor board to consider temporarily moving MPs to the House of Lords, rather than leave the premises entirely.
Under the agreed plans, MPs are expected to move to Richmond House, the former home of the Department of Health, while the Palace of Westminster – with a floorplate the size of 16 football pitches and containing 1,100 rooms, 100 staircases and three miles of passageways – is being restored.
Auditors said the £4bn cost previously reported was likely to be a “median” figure, with the final outlay on the Unesco world heritage site expected to be higher. Some estimates put the final bill as high as £6bn.
This is a huge amount of money to spend when key services and the economy are under pressure, but at the same time it is just a fraction of the projected £205 billion cost of renewing the Trident missile system, which we are apparently still going to do.
Perhaps preserving our heritage, although still not as important as funding health, education and social care, should take precedence over weapons of mass destruction.
The Guardian reports that National Audit Office (NAO) has called on the group tasked with the Palace of Westminster’s multi-billion-pound overhaul to take a firm grip on the process after the budget for Big Ben’s construction works alone rose by 176%:
In a report released on Friday, sponsor board members, who took control of the repair programme this month, have been urged to come up with a clear plan so they are not thrown off by competing interests, especially among MPs.
Auditors have also disclosed that an estimated £149.6m to develop the business case in 2020-21 was rejected by the palace’s authorities partly because of concerns about the impact of the pandemic. Formally appointed on 8 April, the board is due to submit a business case, which will include a budget range and full details of the work involved, by 2022.
Before parliament voted in 2018 to approve the renewal works, which will entail decanting the whole building for at least six years, MPs had pushed rival plans that would have seen only a partial vacating required, forcing builders to work around the Commons schedule.
Alternative ideas have been raised again since the coronavirus outbreak. The former public accounts committee chair Sir Edward Leigh said “saving public money” should be the primary concern and last month called on the sponsor board to consider temporarily moving MPs to the House of Lords, rather than leave the premises entirely.
Under the agreed plans, MPs are expected to move to Richmond House, the former home of the Department of Health, while the Palace of Westminster – with a floorplate the size of 16 football pitches and containing 1,100 rooms, 100 staircases and three miles of passageways – is being restored.
Auditors said the £4bn cost previously reported was likely to be a “median” figure, with the final outlay on the Unesco world heritage site expected to be higher. Some estimates put the final bill as high as £6bn.
This is a huge amount of money to spend when key services and the economy are under pressure, but at the same time it is just a fraction of the projected £205 billion cost of renewing the Trident missile system, which we are apparently still going to do.
Perhaps preserving our heritage, although still not as important as funding health, education and social care, should take precedence over weapons of mass destruction.
