Mother of Parliaments Set to Move Out of Westminster Palace

Westminster Palace which houses the Parliament of United Kingdom and where members of House of the Commons and the Lords debates is set to move out of the Palace of Westminster for six years paving way for the repairing work of world’s one of the most oldest building structure.

Recently the Members of Parliaments voted by 236 to 220 to support an amendment for the repairing of the Westminster Palace. The Conservative and Labour members of Parliament come together to support a full programme, which include renovation and repairing of the historic building.

The building, which has become a den of deadly fire risks, collapsing roofs, crumbling walls and leaking pipes as well as large quantities of lethal asbestos, will be repaired at a cost of £6 billion.

During a three-hour debate on the matter, the MPs issued a series of dire warnings about the safety of the Palace of Westminster, where around 8,000 people work and a million people visit each year for different works. There were, however, sharp disagreements on whether MPs should be voting to spend money on an expensive relocation, but all consented at the end in the favour of the repairing of Westminster Palace.

It would be the first time that both the house of lords and house of common is moving out of the Victorian era palace since the Commons chamber was destroyed by a bomb blast in the year 1941. Under the plan, the Commons and Lords would move off site in 2025 for an estimated six years.

Accordingly the House of Lords will be shifted to the Queen Elizabeth II conference center and the Commons would move to the Richmond House near Whitehall.

MPs had the option of delaying the decision until 2022, meanwhile the vital mending and patching work of the building would continue. Speaking earlier this month, Commons leader Andrea Leadsom raised the issue of repairing of the building and said that lawmakers had a genuinely open decision to make. “The House needs to decide whether we can afford to justify the work that undoubtedly needs to take place to restore this Palace a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with over 1 million visitors a year at a time when there are great fiscal constraints”.

The Palace of Westminster, which is a masterpiece of Victorian and medieval architecture and engineering, faces an impending crisis which cannot be responsibly ignore. Much of the current Palace of Westminster was built after a major fire in 1834 and a bomb blast of 1941, but parts of the site date back to the 11th century. As a national icon and UNESCO World Heritage Site, its renovation represents a hugely complex and costly operation.

Big Ben the bell that marks time in the clock over the Houses of Parliament, was taken out of action last year as part of a renovation plan of Elizabeth Tower, which houses the clock. Some fear that once the Palace of Westminster is vacated, MPs and peers will never again return to the "Mother of Parliaments", one of the greatest tourist attractions in the world and the most ancient symbol of a functioning democracy. But reality may be otherwise.

The decision to repair becomes more important when experts have long claimed the Palace of Westminster is crumbling into ruin. They argue that the building was never designed to house around 8000 people currently working in it in various departments, who are joined by more than a million visitors a year. Work also included to repair crumbling stonework, remove asbestos, restore 4,000 windows and repair damaged roofs.

The greatest causes for concern are the plumbing and wiring some of which has not been replaced since the construction of the building was completed in the 1870s.

Officials say the Palace is at risk of a “catastrophic failure” such as a flood or fire because the plumbing and electrical infrastructure is “no longer fit for purpose”.

The Westminster palace, which has been at the center of British politics for, nearly 900 years and the lawmakers have chosen this site since 1547 to voice issues time to time. The Palace was completely destroyed during a fire in the year 1834 and it was rebuilt again in the year 1852. The Big Ben bell was installed in the clock tower seven years later.