August 24 2020

Foster & Partners have unveiled plans for a £300m temporary transparent home for MPs, relocated while vital renovation of the Houses of Parliament takes place.

Situated on Horse Guards Parade the structure has been designed for easy disassembly and re-use while accommodating a debating chamber, public gallery and terraces.

The bulletproof glass and steel dome is said to pay tribute to the great Victorian cast-iron glasshouses which precede it, notably the Crystal Palace and would serve as an alternative to an Allford Hall Monaghan Morris scheme to relocate parliament to Richmond House, Whitehall.

Speaking to The Times Foster said: "It saves a huge amount of money and time and is reusable. It showcases what we can produce as a nation.

"Everyone regards the relocation of parliament as a huge problem, but it also presents an incredible opportunity and I can't see any downsides to our proposal.

"Horse Guards is next to 10 and 11 Downing Street and is far more secure than Richmond House."

Devised in conjunction with property developer Sir John Ritblat the scheme would require to be in operation by 2025 when the renovation of the Houses of Parliament is scheduled to begin in earnest. 

4 Comments

#1 Posted by Robin B's Discount on 24 Aug 2020 at 13:42 PM

That seems like great value for money...…

Hopefully it can be converted to a homeless shelter once the spivs are finished with it.

#2 Posted by Honky Tonk Man on 24 Aug 2020 at 15:53 PM

There are proably conference centers they could move the parliment to for a fraction of the price of building that pop-up one.

#3 Posted by Phil Stirling on 24 Aug 2020 at 19:32 PM

Honky Tonk Man, you'd have the lost income to be paid to the conf centre, probably wouldn't be much less than the Foster glass house.
Can't beat saving money can we ???

#4 Posted by Paul North on 26 Aug 2020 at 01:37 AM

Honky Tonk, not sure that is true, did you see how much it cost to convert the excel into the Nightingale Hospital? For that there is the rent for the number of years you need to have it, the conversion costs, the security and the transport costs between the location of the conference centre and the administrative offices at Portcullis House, this solution is co-located a stone's thrown from Whitehall admin and is purpose built with none of the limitations listed above...

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