Do We Really Need The Palace Of Westminster?

[mushroom25]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42453941

spend £3.5BN which the country hasn't got on a crumbling ruin? or build a new purpose built facility in a "big shed" warehouse building next to a motorway junction, which will be hundreds of percent more accessible to the electorate, with adequate parking, and sell off a very sought after London riverside development potential worth several more billions?

image and status? or practical and affordable?

[jourdain2]

^^^ "Parliamentary building" as I typed. :(

[Guilbert53]

>>>owes its stunning Gothic architecture to the 19th-century architect Sir Charles Barry.

I think the "look" of the Parliament building is more to do with Augustus Pugin than Barry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_Pugin

[Guilbert53]

Some stupid ideas here to rebuild the House of Parliament somewhere other than London.

The Houses of Parliament does not exist in isolation.

Don't people realise that the whole area around there (Whitehall) is full of Government buildings (10 Downing St for example but also many major Government departments containing thousands of civil servants).

Moving JUST the Parliament building elsewhere would cause all sorts of administrative headaches and would be totally unworkable.

p.s. Having said that, when I see the inside of the House of Commons on a busy day like Budget day, and we have MPs sitting on the stairs and standing around the edge you do realise the building awfully badly designed for the number of MPs we have (I know there are plans to reduce the number of MPs).

We are one of the major democracies of the world, and we have a building that cant even hold all the MPs when a full debate is on. How embarrassing for our country.

[ToraToraTora]

see what a pickle you can get into moving government stuff about:
https://news.sky.com/story/meps-on-the-move-madness-of-strasbourg-shift-10293596
Yes ladies and gentlemen I give you the madness of the EUSSR!

[ToraToraTora]

"we have a building that cant even hold all the MPs when a full debate is on" - an excellent reason to halve the number of MP's, abolish the lords and replace with an elected "senate" type chamber of say 100, seems enough for the Septics.

[Old_Geezer]

Most don't need to be in the chamber for a debate. Only those intending to speak. The rest can follow the arguments on cctv or whatever. Just make sure that the lobbies are large enough. Or start counting votes electronically.

[Khandro]

I think the whole concept of a complete restoration as a one-off project is wrong. What is required is a continuous team of on-site craftsmen with customised premises. It would require an annual budget set for perpetuity dealing with the most pressing problems first, as takes place in cathedrals; maintenance rather than full restoration
The most noisy and disruptive work would take place during the recesses.

[New Judge]

"The rest can follow the arguments on cctv or whatever."

Or, more usually, not bother with the debate at all and simply file through the appropriate lobby as dictated by their party Whips.

[lindapalmara]

Iconic, historic building, needs to be restored. As long as they make the House of Lords something like a concert venue and banish the lot of them!

I was there in 2016 and sat for a long time, people watching after PMQs. If we saw some doddery old begger on a walking frame coming down the corridor we knew which turning they would take! Probably the restaurant after pocketing the £300 for turning up.