Parliament restoration plan under review

Aaron Morby 4 years ago
Share

The independent body set up to manage the £4bn-plus restoration of the Houses of Parliament has put the project on pause to re-examine fully the current plan.

An expert team set up by the new Sponsor Body in charge of the work will review all options for how the restoration programme should proceed, including new ways of working during the coronavirus outbreak.

They will also reassess the central decision taken five years ago to relocate all MPs and Lords to allow work to proceed. This was seen as the “best and most cost-effective” option.

The upgrade to the Northern Estate to create the temporary home for MPs will itself cost up to £1.6bn.

Sarah Johnson, the Sponsor Body CEO, said given the completely altered political and economic landscape, the review will need to be both deeper and more wide-ranging than initially anticipated.

She said: “The restoration and renewal of the Houses of Parliament will be the biggest and most complex heritage project ever undertaken in the UK.

“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 Sponsor Body was formally established last month. It is the single client accountable to Parliament and oversees the Delivery Authority, which will carry out the work.

Johnson said she would involve infrastructure and programme management experts drawn from the Sponsor Body and Delivery Authority to carry out the assessment.

She added that The House of Commons now contains many new Members elected for the first time who may well take a different view of Restoration and Renewal from Members in 2016.

It is also a very different Government which, even before the current crisis, had a clear set of priorities. In the light of Covid-19, there are likely to be other key drivers, arising mainly as a result of the impact on the economy, on public finances and on the population at large.

The Sponsor Body review is launched today and is expected to report in the autumn.

Latest news

Site labour rates start rising again

Industry's biggest payroll firm says "it feels like things could be turning round"
3 hours ago

Council finds extra £33m for Buckinghamshire link road

South East Aylesbury Link Road costs soar by nearly 30% to £147m
2 hours ago

Quartet win £490m North West & Central railway works deal

Skanska, Kier, Octavius Infrastructure and Story Contracting bag major projects deal
3 hours ago

Unite Students plans first major mixed-use scheme

Developer's first mixed BTR and PBSA project to be built in Edinburgh
18 hours ago

Galliford Try names new finance director

Rentokil's Kris Hampson joins contractor to replace Andrew Duxbury
4 hours ago

Council boss hits out at bat threat to £274m road job

Natural England could scupper scheme due to be built by Ferrovial
4 hours ago

Hydrogen-fuelled diggers to be allowed onto highways

Government to raise barrier to widespread use of hydrogen fuelled plant in construction
19 hours ago

Plans in for £118m Government hub in Darlington

Work pencilled to start later this year on new home for 1,450 civil servants
19 hours ago

New contractor highlights Henry Construction jobs on website

New firm lists jobs by failed contractor to show its experience
1 day ago

Contractors line up for £2.6bn Anglian Water AMP8 deal

Eight big names land places on pioneering @one Alliance
2 days ago

McAleer & Rushe bags first major later living project

Work to start this month on 167-flat Royal Tunbridge Wells project
1 day ago

Kier starts first all-electric prison houseblock job in Kent

Next-generation fully electric T60 prison houseblock to be built at HMP Elmley
1 day ago

Keepmoat sees better times ahead in housing market

Profits dip in 2023 despite construction of record number of new homes
1 day ago

Vistry signs partnership deals for 1,900 mixed tenure homes

West Sussex former airfield and Newmarket sites to break ground
2 days ago

Turnover at Wates tops £2bn for first time

Construction division exceeds £1bn turnover as average contract value hits record high of £48.3m
2 days ago

L&G looks to sell Cala Homes in exit from house building

Insurance giant reported to be preparing to offload 3,000 homes-a-year developer
3 days ago

Multiplex profit almost trebles as margin hits 5.5%

Revenue jumps 20% to £675m as big London scheme complete
2 days ago

TopHat puts plans to open huge Corby factory on hold

Advanced manufacturing facility was due to employ 1,000 people
2 days ago

Laing O’Rourke lands Calderdale hospital job

Enabling works to start by the end of this year at West Yorkshire site
2 days ago

Go-ahead for £475m Sunderland film and TV studios

Work to start this year on first phase Corwn Work studios
2 days ago

Willmott Dixon set for £20m Stockport Community Hub

Planning decision expected in June on Marple leisure and health clinic project
2 days ago

Police hunt for blundering dumper truck thief

Raider drove into a fence before getting stuck on a bank
2 days ago

Beattie Passive files administration notice

Passivhaus pioneer has been in business for more than ten years
3 days ago

McAlpine set for £50m space and tech centre

Northumbria Uni sign pre-con deal for new satellite research hub
3 days ago

VolkerFitzpatrick seals £34m Kent road viaduct

Work to start next year on Sturry Link Road near Canterbury
3 days ago

Eight win £600m Scottish civil engineering framework

Balfour, Farrans, Graham and Morgan Sindall win major works lot
3 days ago

Site engineer crushed to death by excavator

22-year-old victim died just months after graduating from university
5 days ago

NG Bailey fined £135,000 after hospital site death

Worker died after striking overhead beam while navigating a mobile elevating work platform
6 days ago

Kier lands £30m Mansfield Connect project

Construction to start in January 2025 on town centre regeneration scheme
3 days ago

Award-winning steelwork firm files administration notice

Kelpies steelwork specialist SH Structures files court notice
6 days ago

Contractor services