Parliament: New site to cost pounds 12m for each MP

THE NEW Westminster building for MPs and their staff will cost more per user than any other building in Britain, it was claimed yesterday.

An article in the trade magazine Building says that Portcullis House, at the bottom of Whitehall, will cost pounds 1.2m per MP. A breakdown of costs for the pounds 250m project, due to open in spring 2001, found that furniture costs, including English oak tables and chairs, will come to pounds 14,761 per member.

Plants for a restaurant in a covered courtyard will cost pounds 200,000, with fixtures and fittings adding another pounds 500,000. Sandstone columns will cost another pounds 3m, and pounds 600,000 will go on office chairs and blinds and windows will cost pounds 1.2m.

The building is to be clad in blast-proof bronze at a cost of pounds 30m, and the roof will add another pounds 13m. Legal, architectural and engineering fees add pounds 42m, says Building.

The luxury building is designed to provide offices and conference rooms for more than 200 backbenchers and their staff, who cannot be housed in the Palace of Westminster. It has already run into problems after concrete "stitches" built into its sides were found to be too weak.