Three billion minimum to repair the Houses of Parliament

[dudleybloke]

A few thousand bricks and some cement will solve the problem.

Just wait till they vote on a pay rise so we know it will be full then brick up the doors and windows.

We still have a nice tourist attraction and we can take bets on how long till they start to eat each other and who will be the last mp in the house.

[MarshPhantom]

FourWheelDrift said:

MarshPhantom said:

Somewhere new south of the river I reckon. Not sure where you'd find the land on the north side.

Go West? Somerset levels.

Top of these cliffs looks ideal.

[jdw100]

Leithen said:

It's not fit for purpose - The Commons can only seat 427 of the 650 MPs.

If we are going to spend 3 Billion, turn the existing pile into a tourist attraction that can help pay for it's upkeep.

Build a new circular chamber, geographically central to the UK, close to rail links etc. Design a seating programme so that MPs cannot sit beside more than one of their colleagues in each parliament. The chamber can be alternate use for Commons/Lords.

Then we might get some oratory/debate worth listening to.

Build Offices next door designed to allow constituents to see their MP.

Pay travelodge to put up a 650 bed hotel next door.

You get my vote.

[irocfan]

MarshPhantom said:

FourWheelDrift said:

MarshPhantom said:

Somewhere new south of the river I reckon. Not sure where you'd find the land on the north side.

Go West? Somerset levels.

Top of these cliffs looks ideal.

I'd say the bottom of them looks better

[RYH64E]

irocfan said:

MarshPhantom said:

FourWheelDrift said:

MarshPhantom said:

Somewhere new south of the river I reckon. Not sure where you'd find the land on the north side.

Go West? Somerset levels.

Top of these cliffs looks ideal.

I'd say the bottom of them looks better

Wait a few weeks and what's at the top now will be at the bottom...

[irocfan]

RYH64E said:

irocfan said:

MarshPhantom said:

FourWheelDrift said:

MarshPhantom said:

Somewhere new south of the river I reckon. Not sure where you'd find the land on the north side.

Go West? Somerset levels.

Top of these cliffs looks ideal.

I'd say the bottom of them looks better

Wait a few weeks and what's at the top now will be at the bottom...

I'm impatient

[gazapc]

waterwonder said:

Just me that thinks it should stay where it is then?

The building and history contained within it are part of it in my opinion are part of the institution that has been our democracy for centuries. People come and go but I like that the building has remained.

The cost is absolutely outrageous i agree, however for once I'd actually admire a decision to protect one of our British institutions and hang the consequences instead of letting it be eroded into another homogeneous pile of ste purely on the basis of 'cost'.

In a hundred years time i can't imagine anyone looking back and thinking i'm glad those sensible people in 2015 moved parliament to an industrial estate in Milton Keynes and sold Westminster to investors from Dubai

This absolutely. Sure a temporary home while work is being undertaken, yes, a permanent move, absolutely no.

Most modern parliament buildings look abslutely s**t.

Moving away from it and palming it off to wealthy investors in my view is like the destruction of old Euston or the knocking down of dozens of country estate homes in the 40s/50s. Westminster is part of our heritage.

[dudleybloke]

The poles will do it for 1 billion.

[xjsdriver]

Randy Winkman said:

The vast majority of those civil servants (and I am one, working about 200 yards from the H of P) don't need to be anywhere near that place and the current change to "flexible working" in the last 2 years has made that even more obvious. Many of the historic Whitehall buildings, such as those that house HMT, Cabinet Office and MoD also either need doing up or could be sold off with even less of a problem than Parliament. And, in my opinion, the civil service is soon going to move away from the idea that departments need one big HQ where all of there staff are located around. It's a win all round if we get rid of the current H of P.

At last - there is someone who talks sense on here........ let's have some more!!!

[PlankWithANailIn]

Can't they just rent a big meeting room when they all need to meet once in a blue moon and use electronic means for everything else? It's not like any debating actually occurs in the main chamber anyway.

[petemurphy]

love to see a breakdown of costs. if theyve quoted 3 it will be 5..

[FourWheelDrift]

petemurphy said:

love to see a breakdown of costs. if theyve quoted 3 it will be 5..

Quoted - £3billion.

Real cost - £25billion

[Hol]

How much dd the Scottish or Welsh assembly buildings cost??


If only this news was last year, there were a few ex Olympic buildings going unused in Stratford.