Big Ben to be silenced for multi-million pound repair work

Big Ben will be silenced for 'several months' during a £29 million refurbishment

The 28 light bulbs behind each clock face will be replaced with energy-efficient LED bulbs (Getty)

The resounding chimes of Big Ben are set to be silenced to allow multi-million pound repairs to take place.

After 157 years of almost continuous service, Parliament has been forced to mute the capital’s famous bell to prevent the iconic clock from failing.

The work, set to begin in January 2017, will last for three years and is the biggest set of repairs on the Elizabeth Tower, the clock tower above the Houses of Parliament, to take place for decades.

The clock will not be stopped for the entire three-year-period, but will be silenced for "several months" while the £29 million repairs take place, a detailed Q&A on Parliaments' website explains.

Big Ben will be silenced after 157 years of nearly unbroken service (Getty)

Steve Jaggs, Parliament’s Keeper of the Great Clock, described the repairs as urgent, saying: “Unless we do something now it’s going to get a lot worse.

“We need to do the work pretty soon to keep this for future generations to enjoy."

The 13.5 tonne Big Ben bell, the largest of five bells housed in the tower, will stop sounding the hours while it is cleaned and checked for cracks.

Other renovation will include work to repair corrosion to the cast-iron roof and to prevent water seepage which threatens the 160-year-old building’s stonework.

Parliament’s clockmakers will work on the spring holding the four metre pendulum and remove the hands from each of the four faces.

Traditional methods and materials will be used wherever possible, but some new modern features are planned.

The 28 light bulbs behind each clock face will be replaced with energy-efficient LED bulbs able to change colour and tint the clock face on special occasions.

A lift will be installed in a ventilation shaft, with the only way currently to reach the belfry being a 344-step stairway.

The public purse is already facing an estimated £7 billion bill to restore the crumbling Palace of Westminster, or Houses of Parliament, but the problems affecting Big Ben are deemed more urgent.

A report released last year found the 19^th neo-Gothic building has “chronic problems” adding that if repairs are not carried out soon “the clock mechanism is at risk of failure with the huge risk of international reputation damage to Parliament.”

Big Ben was last thought to be shut down in 1976 for a period of 26 days over nine months as repairs were carried out.

Additional reporting by Associated Press