Eyeing Makeover, Parliament Hits Big Ben's Snooze Button
Big Ben has been silenced, and its chimes will not be heard for four years while London’s most famous bell tower is restored. With the $80- million project cost now more than double initial estimates, U.K. lawmakers are pondering how to manage renovation of the rest of the decrepit, 1,100-room Houses of Parliament, with a budget more than 60 times bigger.
Eroding stonework, leaking roofs, flooded basements, tangled wiring and wide-spread asbestos have left the of the House of Commons and the House of Lords “in a state of extreme disrepair,” according to a Public Accounts Committee report filed a few months ago. “The risk of a catastrophic failure is high and growing.”