Restoration and renewal of the Palace of Westminster: Background and progress in 2024

Approximate read time: 10 minutes

On 16 January 2025 the House of Lords will debate the 2024 ‘Restoration and renewal: Annual progress report’.

1. Restoration and renewal annual progress report 2024: Summary

It is widely accepted that the Palace of Westminster needs substantial repair and restoration work.^[1] The Restoration and Renewal Programme is tasked with setting out plans for the works, with strategic direction from its client board.^[2] More information on the structure of the client and programme boards, which represent both Houses, is set out in section 2.3 of this briefing.

The programme’s annual report for 2024 noted a key achievement was the client board agreeing to a proposed strategic case.^[3] This means that going forward, work can be undertaken to develop the three options the strategic case set out:^[4]

• Full decant: Temporarily relocating both Houses of Parliament to complete extensive restoration work.
• Continued presence: Maintaining the Commons Chamber onsite while temporarily relocating the House of Lords.
• Enhanced maintenance and improvement: A rolling programme of works “to deliver enhanced maintenance and improvement”.

The delivery authority is developing the first two options. The third is under the remit of Parliament’s in-house strategic estates team.

Costed proposals for the three options are expected to be presented to both Houses of Parliament for decision in 2025.^[5] The report set out that all options would seek to deliver improvements in the following areas:^[6]

• health and safety, including fire safety and addressing the risk from asbestos
• renewal and expansion of mechanical, electrical and other services
• building fabric conservation
• air ventilation, heating and cooling
• security protection measures
• accessibility, including to improve audibility and increase step-free access

The report also set out the project’s expenditure for the past three years, as shown in table 1.

Table 1. Expenditure on the Restoration and Renewal Programme

(Houses of Parliament Restoration and Renewal, ‘Restoration and renewal: Annual progress report’, 8 October 2024, HC 228 of session 2023–24, p 29)

The report explained that technical and design work is underway. Feasibility studies and plans for early and enabling works are in development.^[7] Concept designs for House of Lords temporary accommodation have been completed and work is in progress on temporary accommodation plans for the House of Commons. Other works across Parliament have included:

• flat roof repairs “to prevent business disruption due to water ingress and loss of historic interiors”
• stonework conservation repairs “to reduce the risk of falling stonework and ongoing degradation of historic building fabric”
• mechanical, electric, public health and fire safety replacement of life-expired services
• surveys including boreholes to assess ground conditions and archaeology, as well as surveys on the structure and condition of external stonework and the pipes and wires within the Palace
• cataloguing and audit of heritage collections, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, decorative arts and other unique objects

2. Background: Parliament’s restoration and renewal programme

2.1 Establishing initial aims and structure

In recent years Parliament has been working towards agreeing a scheme of works for the Palace of Westminster:

• September 2016: The Joint Committee on the Palace of Westminster published a report setting out options for the restoration and renewal (R&R) of the palace.^[8]
• January 2018: The House of Commons agreed a motion approving the next steps of work on R&R. This included an endorsement of the joint committee’s recommendation for the palace to be totally vacated to allow the works to take place (‘full decant’).^[9]
• October 2019: The Parliamentary Buildings (Restoration and Renewal) Act 2019 provided for a sponsor body to take responsibility for the programme of works. This was made up of a team of staff and a sponsor board. The board included parliamentarians and set the strategic direction of the sponsor body. This body acted in shadow form from July 2018 until April 2020, when it was formally established by the act receiving royal assent. The act also provided for a delivery authority to be responsible for managing the programme.
• March 2021: The sponsor body published its strategic review report, which recommended a full decant of the palace.^[10]
• April 2021: The House of Commons Commission asked the sponsor body to assess the impact of maintaining a continued presence in the palace throughout the works.^[11]

2.2 Assessing costs and timings

As requested by the House of Commons Commission, the sponsor body produced an initial assessment of the costs and duration of the works.^[12]

The estimates at that time suggested that the ‘essential scheme’ (the full decant of the palace) would cost between £7bn and £13bn (excluding VAT) and take between 19 and 28 years, with the palace needing to be vacated for 12 to 20 years. The initial assessment also outlined a ‘continued presence’ study which found that if parliamentarians remained in the building, both the costs and time taken would increase. Depending on the scenario, the modelling found that costs could be increased by 40–60% (before VAT and inflation) and the time taken could be up to 48 years longer. It also detailed concerns about fire safety, health and safety, and disruption to parliamentary business.

The House of Commons Commission expressed concerns about the estimated costs and schedule and asked the clerk of the House of Commons to prepare a paper on potential next steps.^[13] The House of Lords Commission asked the R&R programme to explore how the decant period could be reduced.^[14] The Lords commission also noted the “significant impact” of a maintained Commons presence, as well as the associated risks. It therefore agreed not to endorse any further work on the continued presence options and to communicate this to the House of Commons.

2.3 Change of governance and approach

In February 2022, the House of Commons Commission proposed changes to the governance and approach of the R&R programme.^[15] It suggested that the sponsor body be replaced with a new, separate department to service both Houses, known as the client team.^[16] This would report, ultimately, to the two House commissions. This approach was agreed in a joint meeting of the commissions in March 2022.^[17] Also agreed were plans to seek independent advice and assurance on the new approach to the works, as well as on the proposals to take forward the decision to replace the sponsor body.

In a joint report in June 2022, the commissions of both Houses set out their proposals for a new mandate for the R&R programme.^[18] In July 2022, both Houses of Parliament agreed to implement the recommendations of this joint report and therefore endorsed a new two-tier member oversight structure that would:

[…] integrate the governance of the R&R programme into the existing governance structures in Parliament, bringing the sponsor function in-house and maintaining the independence of the delivery authority.^[19]

In the House of Lords in July 2022, the then Lord Privy Seal and leader of the House of Lords, Baroness Evans of Bowes Park, said the changes would enable work to be completed to produce the strategic case which would set out options for further development.^[20] She said this would be presented to both Houses by the end of 2023.

The two-tier structure, which replaced the sponsor board, is made up of:^[21]

• The R&R client board: This is made up of both commissions and is responsible for strategic decisions. It started meeting in October 2022.^[22]
• The R&R programme board: A cross-party group of parliamentarians, officials and external members with delegated authority from the client board. It was established in February 2023 and meets monthly.^[23]

In January 2023, the corporate officers of both Houses took on legal responsibilities for the R&R programme under the 2019 act.^[24] The same month, the client team, which supports the above boards, replaced the sponsor body following a transition project.^[25] This team instructs the work of the independent R&R delivery authority, which is responsible for designing and delivering the works.

Throughout these changes the delivery authority remained an independently operated statutory body, although its oversight was transferred to the new governance structure.^[26] A new delivery agreement was put in place between the corporate officers (the clerks of both Houses) and the delivery authority to provide a framework for their relationship.^[27]

In July 2023, the R&R programme published its first annual progress report.^[28]

In November 2023, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee expressed concerns that “the prospect of works beginning in earnest remains a distant one”.^[29] The committee said that delays to implementing a restoration and renewal programme or proceeding with a continued presence rather than a decant would put the safety of people in Parliament at risk. It also noted an ongoing maintenance cost of £1.45mn a week while plans are being developed.

Further background information on the changes made to the R&R programme’s governance is available in the House of Lords Library’s briefing ‘A new mandate for the restoration and renewal programme’ (6 July 2022).

3. Read more

• Houses of Parliament Restoration and Renewal, ‘Russ MacMillan appointed to lead Restoration and Renewal Delivery Authority’, 24 October 2024
• Construction Briefing, ‘The struggle to agree UK Parliament’s £22bn refurbishment plans’, 15 April 2024
• House of Commons Library, ‘Restoration and Renewal: Developing the strategic case’, 26 January 2024

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Cover image by UK Parliament on flickr.

An editorial change was made to this briefing on 19 December 2024.