MPs and the Lords are due to be presented with three options for the future of restoring Parliament before the end of the year: a full decant; half-decant; and a stay-put option of rolling refurbishment.

A fourth option of works to improve the fabric of the building, short of a full restoration. The Financial Times reported on Saturday (16 August) that this alternative plan would effectively ‘kick the can down the road’.

In any event, a final decision will not take place until next year at the earliest, once the options have been presented to parliament.

Last year, the Restoration & Renewal (R&R) Client Board confirmed that long-term maintenance of the Palace of Westminster will be presented as a third option to MPs when restoration plans are put before parliament. MPs were originally given two options: decant or half-decant.

A strategic outline published by the renewal body last March confirmed that MPs will once again consider a temporary House of Commons chamber under revived plans for the Palace of Westminster’s restoration for decant, as happened in 2018.

AHMM was behind those contentious plans to create an interim Commons chamber within the shell of the nearby Grade II*-listed 1980s building designed by William Whitfield and Andrew Lockwood. The plans came under fire from conservationists.

While AHMM’s ongoing involvement is unclear, the report said any new scheme would involve ‘significantly less demolition and impact to the façade’ of Richmond House than that proposed in 2018.

Under the revived proposals, the building could accommodate the Commons, providing a similar capacity to the current Commons Chamber and division lobbies, as well as flexible workspace for MPs, the R&R Board said.

Meanwhile plans to move the Lords into the nearby QEII Conference Centre also appear to remain on the table, according to the strategic outline.

Lords deputy speaker Kimble told the chamber earlier this year that the conference centre is the ‘preferred decant location across the three options’, echoing the preference outlined last year by the R&R Board.

Until plans were put on hold in 2022, peers had been set to move to the 1986 Powell, Moya & Partners-designed building as restoration work on the Houses of Parliament ramped up. It is understood the plans fell under BDP’s wider Northern Estate masterplan for the Palace of Westminster, which was scrapped in 2022, alongside the former oversight body.

The Commons Public Accounts Committee warned in 2023 that the Palace of Westminster could collapse if refurbishment work did not proceed soon. Running repairs cost £2 million a week to keep the building functioning, the committee warned.

Going ahead? The proposal by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris for the first wave of Parliament’s restoration includes contentious plans for a temporary House of Commons chamber inside Richmond House