MPs may be forced out of parliament
MPs and peers may have to pack their bags and move out of parliament for three years to make way for extensive renovations.
Yet, it is unclear whether it will be MPs or peers who are forced to leave for the duration of the project. Renovation is only required in the House of Commons, but it has been suggested that MPs use the Lords’ facilities while construction takes place.
Some members of the House of Lords have been quick to express their opposition to the plan.
Health and safety experts are most concerned about a potential threat of asbestos, but parliament’s aged and faulty structure also needs considerable reconstruction.
Its telephone, plumbing, and electrical systems all require replacement, having been in use for over 50 years.
Expected to cost £350 million, the newly devised renovation plan could take up to three years.
Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre is the likely provisional site, suggested for its close proximity to parliament.
Though the building is just minutes away from the debating chamber, Nick Harvey, spokesman for the House of Commons Commission, announced a ‘feasibility study’ to assess the implications of a temporary relocation.
The study will evaluate its impact on the organisation of parliament’s activities.
It will also consider “whether substantial savings in cost, time and risk could be made by moving some operations of both Houses out of the palace,” according to Mr Harvey.
MPs have not had to leave parliament since World War Two, when a Nazi bomb destroyed crucial parts of the building. But the vast majority of the building has been standing since 1834, following a fire that destroyed the original structure.
Future renovation will almost certainly include measures to make its composition more technically modern and environmentally friendly.
