Will the British Parliament collapse?Lawmakers raise major warnings | World News

British lawmakers on Wednesday issued a “real and rising risk” that a catastrophic event would destroy the 147-year-old Palace of Westminster, the seat of Britain’s parliament.

A Report of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee said Britain’s Democratic seats were “leaky, falling masonry and a constant fire hazard” and that as many as 2,500 locations were covered in asbestos.

The committee slammed the “many years of delays” ahead of the council building and said the refurbishment had been extremely slow and largely amounted to “fixing” the building at a cost of around £2 million ($2.5 million) a week.

It asked politicians and parliamentary authorities to “clearly state the cost and timetable for completing this massive effort before it is too late.” The committee said the focus so far had been on MPs rather than using the building’s facilities. Thousands of staff and visitors.

In 2018, after years of hesitation, members of Congress voted to move out in the mid-2020s for a multi-year overhaul. The complex has suffered significant structural damage such as leaking roofs, burst century-old steam pipes and occasional collapses of large masonry blocks. The mechanical and electrical systems were last renovated in the 1940s.

Officials said they were “planning a large and complex restoration of the Palace of Westminster in order to preserve it for future generations”, with MPs in the House of Commons and Lords expected to discuss the way forward later this year. vote.

Clerks and the newly created project structure “need to build confidence in their ability to deliver a project of this size and complexity”. The report added that there was an urgent need for timely transparency and compliance with health and safety protocols, particularly with regard to asbestos, ahead of more significant works and potentially more serious accidents.

The Palace of Westminster is an architectural masterpiece, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, visited by one million people each year. It was designed in a neo-Gothic style by architect Charles Barry after a fire destroyed the former parliament building in 1834.