Parliament revamp could cost £40bn and take 61 years - BBC News
£40bn and 60 years to renovate apparently. or a quarter of what we spend every year to keep the health service of the entire UK running.
Surely there comes a point where you just bulldoze the place and build something new. What's important in the big scheme of things is what goes on rather than what it goes on in. A tenth of that would probably get you a lovely modern functional building with a layout that better suits 21st century (and beyond) governance. And in a tenth of the time. It's not even that nice, or even that old. Most of it is less than 200 years old. It's just the gothic revival aesthetic that makes folk think it's older than it is.
just bulldoze the place with the current inhabitants still in there and build something new
FTFY 😉
It's quite an iconic building, I'm sure it could be put to some reasonable use, hotels, housing retail etc and be commercially successful, they managed to do that with Battersea Power Station.
But yeah, the MPs should definitely move somewhere else, and not even necessarily London.
God, five pages of northern monkeys saying any new parliament building should be in Sheffield, droitwich or some other manky provincial tip
😉
We don’t want it up here creating more congestion and even higher house prices. I suggest somewhere very close to sea level on the East Coast to focus minds on climate change?
I think a lot of the cost and delay is due to the fact MPs won't move out so the renovations need to be done with them in situ which is mad. 40 billion and 60 years is ridiculous though, given the speed building regs change what's done at the start won't be compliant half way into the renovation.
Sell it with open permissions for development.
Plenty of scope for a modern building with proper office space and possibly accommodation.
I’m currently on a new build school, 3 storeys, not quite as big a footprint as the HoC. Total cost an estimated 65million.
£250million should build a truly excellent new HoC. Then you have the Scottish Parliament that cost around £400 million 25 years ago, but the Welsh Senedd ‘only’ cost £70m, but googling shows it costs £100m to run it each year.
Government finances are a total mess, they pay far more for virtually everything they put out tenders for, but, how on earth can a refurb of an existing building cost an estimated £60billion? They clearly have no idea of real life prices, so they should sell off the land, or, preferably, lease it out to keep it as Government asset, then let a developer(s) refurb it into a conference/hotel centre. Suddenly they’d find it can be totally refurb’d for less than £250m, and be finished in less than 5 years.
There should be one new modern Parliament building. Lots of security available to stop any potential attacks, decent office space for the staff on the same complex, and good transport links from any part of the Country. So, Birmingham or Manchester could be ideal, but I doubt there are any suitable spots in the city centres, hence an out of town venue would be perfect, Solihull or Wigan areas?
I think a lot of the cost and delay is due to the fact MPs won't move out so the renovations need to be done with them in situ which is mad. 40 billion and 60 years is ridiculous though, given the speed building regs change what's done at the start won't be compliant half way into the renovation.
The team has also suggested moving MPs and peers out of the Palace of Westminster for up to 24 years from 2032, under a refurbishment plan that could cost as much as £15.6bn.
The BBC story rests your case.
Get them some bloody portacabins. Borrow the old UCL hospital. Or rent a big boat on the Thames. Save 45bn and 35 years. Bulldoze the whole crumbling thing and rebuild it. With actual foundations. Build it with the same outline. Whatever. They move out every summer anyway, because, reasons, apparently.
We could always try the “usual” development ploy, have a convenient accidental fire and deem the building unsafe/not suitable for use and tear it down, then use a few hundred porta cabins for the politicians/civil servants/lackeys
if we hold a raffle for the opportunity to burn it down I’ll buy a few tickets
It’s a few years since as I was in the building but it was a lot like many government buildings, pretty tatty and in a poor state of repair with buckets to catch leaks.
When you look at what they’ve done in places like Berlin, they should keep the facades, Westminster Hall, the clock tower then demolish the rest and build a modern building behind that creates a modern workplace rather than a warren of old wooden panelled room that don’t suit the needs of a modern workspace.
The consultants have only priced the refurb at that to draw attention away from what they charged for the report
God, five pages of northern monkeys saying any new parliament building should be in Sheffield, droitwich or some other manky provincial tip
😉
Is Droitwich in the North? Took just one page for a Southern monkey to expose their lack of knowlege of the geography of the UK. 😀
Is Droitwich in the North?
North of Luton innit, ergo, up north 😄
Best move it while they're at it because if they don't it'll be under water when it celebrates its 400th birthday.
Surely there comes a point where you just bulldoze the place and build something new.
Manchester Town Hall is undergoing a similar complete refurb:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyvwq45wllo
Admittedly Covid got in the way and there have been some unforeseen issues but it's now up at £520m or so and with work pushed back 3 years to 2027 (was originally supposed to re-open in 2024).
Some of it has been relatively "easy" since the building is completely closed, off limits, absolutely everything out of it and so on, certainly much easier then trying to keep the place open and functional.
A lot of these old buildings are deemed too iconic to demolish but too expensive to refurb, the result being that they get patched and mended until finally they're at breaking point anyway but the bill to fix it is now astronomical.
See also: Hammersmith Bridge, Buckingham Palace, most cathedrals...
God, five pages of northern monkeys saying any new parliament building should be in Sheffield, droitwich or some other manky provincial tip
Not a bad idea when our elected representatives have to endure what life is like outside the South East. (Sandwich an inhabitant of the Mystic East).
When you look at what they’ve done in places like Berlin, they should keep the facades, Westminster Hall, the clock tower then demolish the rest and build a modern building behind that creates a modern workplace rather than a warren of old wooden panelled room that don’t suit the needs of a modern workspace.
100% this.
The important bit is democracy, not where it happens. Build a new parliament that's fit for purpose and has some future proofing, then give the palace of Westminster to the National Trust or something.
I seem to recall the Tories blocking proposals to move parliament out while repairs were made back when they were in charge. Placing greater priority in the trappings of than in the functioning of government and democracy, irrespective of the cost, seems like the sort of thing the Conservatives would do, hopefully that's not what will be decided in the coming votes.
A suitable time to build a new building for them that also includes accommodation in the form of basic 1 bed, en suite rooms...knock their 2nd homes in to touch and save another huge chunk of cash.
God, can you imagine the reporting on the sordid sex parties that would result.
Let alone whatever the bastard offspring of Esther McVey and Rees-Mogg would look like.
Let alone whatever the bastard offspring of Esther McVey and Rees-Mogg would look like.
I have never reported a post before (aside from maybe an obvious spam one or two) but this one came very close to me reporting with the suggestion "ban for life and depending on religious beliefs any future reincarnations".
I do tend towards handing it over, with enough cash to make it safe, to the NT or EH and building something more suitable to modern times. I mean its great we have attachments in the cloakrooms for mps to hang their swords up but the current layout really is a bit shit so unless we are going to return to letting them duel to the death I think we might as well move elsewhere and update the lot.
I suspect that Rees-Mogg would consider sex with an actual women a duty he has to perform once a year, but would prefer to shove a drug soaked orange in his mouth and choke himself with a belt attached to a door handle while dreaming that nanny will walk in and find him.
I suspect that Rees-Mogg...
Reported to mods with the suggestion ban:
them
anyone vaguely related to them
anyone who has ever replied to one of their posts
anyone within 100 square miles of them.
actually sod it ban everyone on the forum just to be safe
It's a shame that China has the go ahead on their new embassy or we could have sold the Houses to them.
But we could offer it to the Saudis as it's got lots of dungeons so on remembrance day, while we're saying "we will remember them" they're thinking "we will dismember them".
difficult to see why if politicians actually believe if “levelling up” they wouldn’t give it serious considerationGod, five pages of northern monkeys saying any new parliament building should be in Sheffield, droitwich or some other manky provincial tip
😉
We don’t want it up here creating more congestion and even higher house prices. I suggest somewhere very close to sea level on the East Coast to focus minds on climate change?
Or maybe *off* the East Coast. With no transport or communication links.
It's quite an iconic building,
Hmmm. I'd say it's an iconic but fake facade, with a historic core. We give a bit too much creed to architecture that's borderline fake. Most of this building (the bits you look at from the outside and think of as iconic) was built after the time of the Great Exhibition - houses in that incredible crystal palace. At a time when as a nation we were looking forward, and a hundred year AFTER the industrial revolution. I have been alive for a third of the time Big Ben and it's tower have been in existence and I'm only in my 50's. Gothic revival style is not really that different to mock tudor or the sort of gopping trash Trump is throwing up next to the white house (the main element of the White House is nearly a hundred years older than Big Ben and it's tower).
When you look at what they’ve done in places like Berlin, they should keep the facades, Westminster Hall, the clock tower then demolish the rest
I think this is where I'm at. Keep parliament where it is, keep just enough of the 'iconic' elements to keep the sentimentalists happy then build a modern building actually fit for purpose rather than spend ten times as much for a layout that will never be that.
that also includes accommodation in the form of basic 1 bed, en suite rooms
Seems fair. A Marriott level hotel for overnight stays for those that need it and save huge amounts on 2nd homes in London. Might encourage MPs to spend the bulk of their time in their constituencies too.
A suitable time to build a new building for them that also includes accommodation in the form of basic 1 bed, en suite rooms...knock their 2nd homes in to touch and save another huge chunk of cash.
I think at one point that was actually considered in the design of Portcullis House but was binned for security reasons and also the one alluded to further down that it would basically turn into the MPs equivalent of student halls of residence with all manner of sleeping around and drug-fuelled parties.
But not as well behaved as students.
There's probably government estate that is either mothballed or under used that could house several hundred MPs.
We don’t want it up here creating more congestion and even higher house prices. I suggest somewhere very close to sea level on the East Coast to focus minds on climate change?
You assume that the good people of Suffolk want them anywhere near the fragile coast. However, making them work from Sizewell, might reinforce to them that it's not an ideal place for ANOTHER reactor. Shingle Street, Sizewell and all up that part of the coast is already prone to breaches...
Birmingham would work for them, or maybe Luton. Get them out of that bubble and make them experience parts of the country that need attention.
Sell the building to some Middle Eastern sheikh/emir for bazillions
Build a big shed in Keighley or Pontefract for them to meet in.
The article does give the suggestion that the only options they are considering are the insanely costly ones. That building a new parliament, which while I am sure would not be cheap the costs would still would be multiple billions cheaper than the options on the table.
If that is the case, it would just be a further indication of how out of touch, entitled and ignorant the whole cesspool of westminster is.
They've not read the ancient scrolls
Asgard is not a place, it's a people
Shove 'em on an industrial estate in Stoke
but the Welsh Senedd ‘only’ cost £70m, but googling shows it costs £100m to run it each year.
£100m to run the building or the Senedd?
Well and truly outdoing the Canadians!!!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IxFcNOmND00&pp=ygUMQjFtIENhbmFkaWFu
True.
Where I live they are shoving up Megasheds in weeks. They could be stuffed inside one of those.
Dead cheap compared.
so i checked with ChatGPT and...
60bn will get you ~20 nuclear attack submarines, allowing us to house them all spaciously (im not a barbarian) at the bottom of the ocean, only needing to come up for food every 6 months.
There's another large, mostly empty, building at the other end of Birdcage Walk that could be repurposed.