Palace of Westminster: Repairs and Maintenance
(asked on 17th May 2021) - View Source
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker, further to the Written Answer by Lord McFall of Alcluith on 23 January 2018 (HL4602), what is the estimated cost to the public purse for the repair and maintenance of the Palace of Westminster in each year from 2022/23 to 2026/27; and what is the estimated risk of a catastrophic failure within the Palace during that period.
The forecast cost of repair and maintenance of the Palace of Westminster in each year from 2022/23 to 2024/25, as per the most recent Medium Term Financial Plans, is set out in the table below. This includes the forecast spend on both maintenance and major projects on the Palace. There is not yet a reliable forecast for repair and maintenance beyond the 2024/25 financial year.
| 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
Planned preventative & Reactive maintenance | £7,821,724 | £8,156,641 | £8,134,727 | £8,218,493 |
Minor projects | £2,212,473 | £2,212,473 | £2,212,473 | £2,212,473 |
Maintenance team | £5,013,950 | £5,013,950 | £5,013,950 | £5,013,950 |
Maintenance and Minor projects | £15,048,146 | £15,383,063 | £15,361,149 | £15,444,916 |
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Major projects | £102,393,805 | £140,357,071 | £98,586,481 | £23,504,834 |
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Total | £117,441,951 | £155,740,134 | £113,947,630 | £38,949,749 |
The risks of failure relating to the physical condition of the Palace of Westminster are reviewed and mitigated as part of the operation and maintenance of the Parliamentary Estate. These risks include fire, hitting uncharted underground services, unexploded ordnance, and failure of legally required services, all of which have mitigation plans in place to reduce the risk of failure. The table below shows the current assessment of the likelihood of the top five risk events in relation to catastrophic failure.
Top 5 Risk Events in relation to Catastrophic Failure | Likelihood |
Fire during construction work | Low |
Collapsing structures | Very Low |
Uncharted underground services | Very Low |
Unexploded ordnance (UXO) or other hazardous materials | Very Low |
Failure of legally required services (e.g. water) | Medium |
Source: In-House Services and Strategic Estates Health and Safety & maintenance team risk registers