Tuesday 28 August 2012

What do our Town Hall & the Houses of Parliament have in common?

Parliament could be convened in a replica chamber or a conference centre for the duration of the repair work, which could start in 2015.

The Sunday Times has reported the refurbishment could cost about £3bn.

A Commons spokesman said a study into the long-term upkeep of the Palace of Westminster is under way. Its findings are to be discussed by the year's end.


The Palace of Westminster - the meeting place of the House of Commons and House of Lords - is a Grade I-listed building much of which dates back to the 1840s and 1850s.

In January, the BBC reported that cracks had appeared in palace buildings, and that the Clock Tower housing the Big Ben bell had started to lean, although not to an extent to cause major concern.

A statement from the House of Commons Commission, chaired by the Speaker John Bercow, said at the time that the palace was "structurally sound".

Refurbishment work is ongoing, but a Commons source told the Sunday Times that the Victorian facilities "are creaking".

The buildings are widely reported to be infested with mice, and the plumbing and electrical systems are out-of-date.

The source added that the scale of the work involved made it "obvious" that the most cost-effective answer was to "move out".

They said: "We either move out or spend £10bn over 20 or 30 years on trying to do the work during the summer recess."

MP Nadine Dorries (Mid Bedfordshire) tweeted earlier that the Commons was a "unique and passionate" place to discuss politics, however conceded that "the rodents are a problem".

The newspaper also reported another option under discussion is leaving the Palace of Westminster altogether, and establishing a new parliament elsewhere in London.

But a parliamentary source told the BBC is it unlikely the palace would be abandoned or sold.

An initial study by the House of Commons Commission into how the work might be done began before the current summer break.

Meanwhile back here in Eastbourne, our own Town Hall building is in a strikingly similar situation of which there appears to be no such guarantee of preservation. Local Lib-Dem controlled Eastbourne Borough Council has all but moved out of the landmark historic building as part of the much trumpeted modernaisation plans which have seen council departments shoe horned into 1 Grove Road from both the Town Hall and the building at 68 Grove Road. Council officers now 'hot desk', working flexibly from home in many cases and sharing desks in the refurbished offices at 1 Grove Road under the Lib Dem plans.

 
The Strategic Property Board set up in the wake of the Asset Management fiasco is due to recieve reports on many more council owned buildings in the coming months with areas of highest footfall being inspected first. The iconic Town Hall is believed to require major repairs to its roof but in addition, a recent walk around the building showed numerous areas of concern including rotten window frames, peeling paint and cracked plaster.
 
On a personal level, I think that landmarks like the Houses of Parliament and our own Town Hall should be preserved and where necessary, adapted so they can continue to provide service that is relevant in the modern age. From an historic point of view, there is so much we can learn about how things were done years ago, the characters who strode the corridors of power and in the case of our own Town Hall, even those that were tried for crimes in the original Court Room. Whilst the ornate nature of much of the building may present additional challenges and the need for serious investment, if you look at the value for money provided by it over its years of service, it would probably be fairly impressive and I doubt that many more modern buildings constructed during the last 50 or 60 years will still be standing to pass the same test of time in the next 100-200 years.
 
Please tell me what you think! E-mail me at councillor.warner@eastbourne.gov.uk 

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