Two years ago, it was revealed that ‘much of the parliamentary estate’ would close that summer for ‘urgent renovation work’ amid fire safety concerns, after a report in September 2017 stated that the Houses of Parliament would receive a £118m upgrade, with the government having budgeted the money to pay for the 'eight-year' programme of fire safety improvements across its estate.
‘High pressure water mist systems’ were to be installed alongside sprinklers, with automatic fire detection and voice alarm systems, emergency lighting, dampers, fire signage, compartmentation, fire doors and the water systems to be fitted or replaced. The June 2018 report had said that the ‘urgent’ work came ‘amid growing fire safety concerns’, with fire inspectors said to ‘roam the corridors 24 hours a day so that the building can pass the safety tests required to stay open’.
The Fire Safety Improvement Works Programme, the ‘extensive fire safety renovation’ works, were said then to have to have been carried out to ‘address immediate safety concerns by the end of [2018]’, but MPs and officials warned that authorities were ‘miles behind’ on the work, while a senior official said the building was ‘another Grenfell waiting to happen’
Earlier in 2018, then Commons Speaker John Bercow was said to have ‘ignored’ findings of an internal audit on improving fire safety in the Houses of Parliament, with leaked documents showing that he ‘went against official advice and kept a policy that prevents fire alarms from sounding at Westminster’, even despite ‘increasing fears of a serious blaze’.
The Times added at the time that there had been 60 incidents since 2008 that ‘could have resulted in a serious fire’, with insiders adding that there were ‘about five fires a week’ on the site. Issues meant the building was ‘a calamity waiting to happen’, with its basement alone containing ‘fire hazards, asbestos, water leaks, seeping drainage units, outdated electrical systems and antiquated steam-powered heating apparatus’.
Fire was said to be the ‘most serious problem’, with many areas not having compartmentation, while gas pipes and electricity ‘run side by side’, and steel drip trays have been installed ‘to prevent leaking water falling directly on electric cables’. Additionally, electric cabling from the 1940s is clad in vulcanised Indian rubber ‘which turns to dust after a time’, and officials feared it has ‘turned to fine powder’ that could ‘easily set alight’.
Building.co.uk has now reported that Hickton has been appointed to ‘two clerks of works roles overseeing the building’s fire safety improvement works programme’, amid worries that ‘have grown that restoring the Palace of Westminster will increase the threat of fire’. The work is said to be worth £250,000, and will include overseeing ‘three live projects and the completion of one major scheme’, with work scheduled to finish in December this year.
The news outlet pointed out the ‘growing concerns’ over fire safety at both the Houses of Parliament and ‘the wider parliamentary estate’, with those in charge of restoration and renewal having warned that ‘vast quantities of combustible materials’ and a ‘huge network of ventilation shafts and floor voids’ have created ‘ideal conditions for fire and smoke to be spread throughout the building’.
In May, the news outlet also added, the overall £4bn plan to restore the palace was ‘thrown into doubt’ after a ‘sweeping review’ of the project was announced, with ‘every option’ said to be ‘now back on the table’.