It’s less than a week until MPs return to Westminster after a summer full of llama drama and Afghan disaster. But as our elected leaders gear up to debate the great issues of state once more, Steerpike has unearthed figures which suggest Parliament’s foundations are not as solid as they would like to think. Whether it’s asbestos, falling stonework or the risk of incineration, all too often the Palace of Westminster resembles a house of horrors.
Mr S has obtained a copy of the most recent parliamentary ‘Asbestos Management Survey’ – drawn up between July 2019 and April 2020 – and it makes for depressing reading. Released under Freedom of Information laws, the report identifies the presence of asbestos material in approximately 28 locations across the parliamentary estate. It also identifies areas which Palace staff have not been able to fully access or inspect – ‘despite every effort being made by the survey team to gain access.’
A parliamentary spokesman told Steerpike that the plan ‘ensures that any work posing an asbestos risk is properly carried out with licensed asbestos removal contractors involved where needed. Anyone who may have to work on asbestos undergoes annual asbestos refresher training.’ Still, hardly encouraging.
The estate also has to contend with stonework dropping off its buildings, with one such piece destroying the windshield of a Toyota owned by future Attorney General Michael Ellis. There have been seven such incidents of falling masonry since the beginning of 2019, with parts falling all over the estate including multiple incidents at both Westminster Hall and the Victoria Tower. Some 14 centimetres of stone fell off the north front of Westminster Hall in February 2019 while most recently nine centimetres disappeared off the face of a gargoyle at the site’s Cromwell Green entrance in March 2021.
And then of course there’s the risk of fire. Between January 2017 and December 2019 there were more than 22 fires recorded at the Houses of Parliament. There were 183 partial evacuations of different areas of the estate – the equivalent of more than 1 a week. Some 19 of the 22 fires were in the Commons parts of the estate. These included incidents involving a faulty brake mechanism on a lift car, burnt food at the residence of then Speaker John Bercow and overheating plugs in Portcullis House where hundreds of MPs are based.
All were relatively minor incidents but – in light of the 2019 Notre-Dame disaster – there is real concern about the Palace’s Victorian air conditioning system. Innovative for its time, these thousands of unmapped hidden ‘voids’ pose a high risk because they would potentially accelerate the spread of fire throughout.
One parliamentary source said: ‘If anything caught fire, it would just rush through the building. The basement is a horror story with steam pipes and old electrical systems all jammed together. London’s Fire Brigade would think twice before risking anyone’s life down there.’
All this does of course raise questions about Parliament’s much-discussed ‘Restoration and Renewal’. There is some good news: in March, the Leader of the Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg noted that some 7,112 automatic fire detection devices, 5,949 emergency lights and 4,126 sprinkler heads have all been installed while some eight miles of pipe for a new basement sprinkler system has been installed. Modified plans mean that Richmond House will no longer be effectively bulldozed, allowing work on Norman Shaw North to have its own decent in December, with work expected to begin in January rather than 2025 as originally envisaged.
Let’s hope that this is one timetable that MPs can stick to.
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