A series of planning applications for Parliament’s Northern Estate, buildings along Parliament Street and Whitehall, have now been submitted to Westminster City Council
The plans are the essential first step to enable the restoration and renewal of the Palace of Westminster as they include a new temporary House of Commons Chamber and associated facilities, together with workspace for all 650 MPs and their staff within a single secure site.
A temporary House of Commons Chamber will be delivered within a substantially redeveloped Richmond House, the former Department for Health building which it vacated at the end of 2017.
The temporary chamber has been carefully designed to replicate the familiar character and the functions of the existing House of Commons Chamber and will provide a greater level of accessibility for MPs and visitors, including a fully accessible public gallery. A new press gallery and education and participation spaces will also be provided to ensure continued public access and engagement.
The building which replaces Richmond House will be of exceptional architectural quality, designed by architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris. It retains key frontages visible to the public – the Richmond Terrace and the Whitehall façade, revealing internally the full scale of the Whitehall façade with a triple-height central lobby space.
A public consultation was launched on the proposals in May 2019 and a series of changes to the proposals have been made as a result. Most notably, the submitted proposals no longer include a security pavilion from in front of Richmond House – which was felt to block views of the façade – with these functions to be incorporated into the adjacent 85 Whitehall/54 Parliament Street.
A document which summarises the final proposals and the key changes made during consultation has also been published today and is available for download here.
Westminster City Council will now conduct its own statutory consultation process. You can view the planning application documents and leave a comment by visiting Westminster City Council’s planning portal here.
Subject to planning permission, it is expected that works on the Northern Estate could begin during 2020 so that works to the Palace of Westminster itself can begin in the mid-2020s.
Liz Peace, chair, Shadow Sponsor Board Restoration and Renewal Programme, said: “The Palace of Westminster is universally recognised as an icon of democracy and is arguably our country’s most important listed building, yet sadly it remains in urgent need of repair after years of under-investment.
“Our plans for the Northern Estate remain the essential first step to enable the restoration and renewal of the Palace to take place.
“The designs will create an exceptional and lasting legacy for Parliament, long after the House of Commons has returned back into the Palace and ensure that all MPs can work from a single, secure site which is a key requirement during the decant period.
“I want to thank all those people who took part in our consultation programme and it is vitally important that we can deliver these improvements as quickly as possible.”
