Palace of Westminster renovation could cost between £2bn and £3bn

[dbgtz]

The planned restoration of the Palace of Westminster could cost taxpayers more than £3bn, it has been claimed.

An expert who led an examination of options for renovating the historic building told BBC2’s Newsnight that it was not unreasonable to think the bill could top £2bn, but the programme claimed the working assumption of insiders was that it could cost £1bn more.

Dr Richard Ware was appointed in 2012 as director of a group studying the restoration and renewal of the palace, and later that year produced a report that put the capital cost of necessary repairs at around £1.5bn.

The report found that basic services within the building, such as electricity, water and sanitation, were functioning “with increasing difficulty and growing risks”, while asbestos was present throughout the palace and original roofs were no longer watertight, leading to extensive damp, leaks and floods.

The present building – home to the House of Lords since 1847 and the Commons since 1852 – has had no general renovation since repairs to wartime damage in 1945-50, the 2012 report said, adding: “If the palace were not a listed building of the highest heritage value, its owners would probably be advised to demolish and rebuild.”

The report considered the options of constructing a new home for parliament, moving one or both houses temporarily while Westminster is renovated, or attempting to restore the building with MPs and peers working inside – something it warned could take 50 years. And it proposed the establishment of a quango, along the lines of the Olympic Delivery Authority, to oversee the work.

The House of Commons was told last week that £7m was being spent on a further report, with MPs due to choose their favoured option in spring 2016 and work not expected to begin in earnest until after 2020.

Ware told Newsnight that if nothing was done, politicians and staff would end up “working in a ruin”. “We’re moving backwards, the building is getting older, faster than we can deal with it. The building is on borrowed time, and if we don’t act soon we won’t have a choice.”

Asked if the cost would be more than £2bn, Ware said it was “not unreasonable to think it will be of that order”. But Newsnight said it had been told that the working assumption was that the cost could reach £3bn over many years. It quoted an unnamed source familiar with the project as saying: “I’d be surprised if it stayed at that.”

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2...-taxpayers-3bn

Not the biggest news story ever, but I'm curious to see what people thinking about spending such a huge sum when we still have a massive deficit and many people feeling the poor have been hit the hardest by austerity measures. Is it worth renovating?

[Alkaz]

Fair enough, it needs to be repaired but I can imagine in that budget everyone will probably get a brand new iPad and other ludicrous luxuries like that. Although I find it interesting that there is such a massive bill for this proposed work which will probably go ahead regardless of what we say / do but other essential work to places like Buckingham Palace is frowned upon and the nation seems to be against saving buildings like that to house the 'lazy jobless' royals, regardless of the fact that they do bring in tourism and considerable amounts of money to the country and the government seem hell bent on sending more and more of our money abroad and everyone seems to be fine with that. Charity starts at home.

This whole thing really angers me lol

[dbgtz]

Fair enough, it needs to be repaired but I can imagine in that budget everyone will probably get a brand new iPad and other ludicrous luxuries like that. Although I find it interesting that there is such a massive bill for this proposed work which will probably go ahead regardless of what we say / do but other essential work to places like Buckingham Palace is frowned upon and the nation seems to be against saving buildings like that to house the 'lazy jobless' royals, regardless of the fact that they do bring in tourism and considerable amounts of money to the country and the government seem hell bent on sending more and more of our money abroad and everyone seems to be fine with that. Charity starts at home.

This whole thing really angers me lol

It's just for the building since it's had no real work done on it for 60 odd years.

It's odd that you say that about Buckingham Palace and the RF bringing in tourism, but so does the Palace of Westminster I imagine considering it's arguably the most iconic buildings in the country.

[Alkaz]

It's practically the same situation with BP. It was in the news a while ago that it had the same heating systems since the queen moved in 60 years ago, along with a lot of other things. Just a quick search on the internet will tell you that the crown estate makes around £250m profit a year, which as far as I am aware doesn't include any of the duchies. The profit generated would cover the cost of these repairs to the royal households but as they profits go to the government they don't seem to want to use any of it and put it back into the crown estate. Who would fund the restoration of PoW, most probably the tax payer like we do everything else.

[dbgtz]

It's practically the same situation with BP. It was in the news a while ago that it had the same heating systems since the queen moved in 60 years ago, along with a lot of other things. Just a quick search on the internet will tell you that the crown estate makes around £250m profit a year, which as far as I am aware doesn't include any of the duchies. The profit generated would cover the cost of these repairs to the royal households but as they profits go to the government they don't seem to want to use any of it and put it back into the crown estate. Who would fund the restoration of PoW, most probably the tax payer like we do everything else.

I was confused at first but now I realise what you're arguing for. The difference between the Royal estate and the Palace of Westminster is that, from some agreement long ago, the RF own the estate on the condition no public funding go towards it and the PoW is not included in that which would explain why public money would have to fund it.

[Alkaz]

I was confused at first but now I realise what you're arguing for. The difference between the Royal estate and the Palace of Westminster is that, from some agreement long ago, the RF own the estate on the condition no public funding go towards it and the PoW is not included in that which would explain why public money would have to fund it.

I understand both sides and that the PoW will need public funding. I just despise those kind of agreements, if the crown estate is giving its £250m profits to the government, then surely they should be reinvesting some of that money back into the estate. I wonder what the upkeep of the most expensive house in the world is per year.

Also, in that article from the Telegraph it says they're spending another £7m on another audit... surely they could make a start repairing parts of the building with that.

[dbgtz]

I understand both sides and that the PoW will need public funding. I just despise those kind of agreements, if the crown estate is giving its £250m profits to the government, then surely they should be reinvesting some of that money back into the estate. I wonder what the upkeep of the most expensive house in the world is per year.

Also, in that article from the Telegraph it says they're spending another £7m on another audit... surely they could make a start repairing parts of the building with that.

It doesn't go to government, that's the point. I have no idea what it is, but neither the crown estate or PoW are anything like a "standard" house.

[-:Undertaker:-]

The Palace of Westminister is a great historic building that is a part of our heritage, and should be protected at all costs as with all other historic manors, palaces and buildings. That said, if the work can be put off then good... but if not, then we have no choice but to restore the building as the longer any problems are allowed to go on, the more damage that will be done. Personally i'd overhaul the Crown Estate and transfer the entire estate and profits back to the House of Windsor so that the HoW recieves all estate profits for themselves/the upkeep of all the Crown Lands/Palaces: in short reversing the deal made with King George III & parliament.

I agree with the posts above though, if we've got enough to give to tinpot African dictatorships (we haven't) we have for this.