Ian Ailles, director general of the House of Commons, said the Elizabeth Tower restoration - which began in 2017 and is scheduled to continue until next year -"had been more complex than we could have anticipated".
The four clock dials on the outside of the tower contain a total of 1,296 individual pieces of glass, each of which need to be replaced as part of the restoration work.And 700 stone repairs have been needed - 300 more than the initial estimate - and every new piece of stone needs to be painstakingly recarved.
The tower only gained its current name, having previously been called the Clock Tower, when it was renamed in honour of the Queen to mark her diamond jubilee in 2012. "We have requested more detailed information about the lessons learned from this experience - as well as assurances that more robust estimates are prepared for works of this nature in the future."
viellarisr Who cares. Just get it done
Is their any photos of this undiscovered bomb damage?!
Can we not just hire folks to work in shifts and give it a right good belt wae a hammer. Money saved. Employment opportunity. Win win 🙃
Nobody noticed the bomb damage before? 🙄
This clock brings in loads of tourism which will then pay for itself. The only story here is the widespread practice of accepting the lowest bid which always leads to higher costs. What were the other bids and would they have been cheaper in the end to make the repairs?
I thought Guy Fawkes got caught bomb damage ?
How can they not know about bomb damage and asbestos? It's pretty much the most famous clock in the world!
That’s ok it’s in London everything gets done in London it doesn’t matter how much it costs
Double it would be the standard response to a government estimate but this is a bit bonkers Someone is taking the proverbial But it does need to be completed. It's an icon
Doesn’t matter how much it costs. The Government has found a money tree. Apparently.
Was that beeb tweet supposed to read £18,000
Should've gone Digital... Kids these days can't tell the time on analogue clocks anyways...
bloody bell ends!
This is criminal, but yet again, we swallow it and let the crooks line their pockets at our expense.
I hope that the English taxpayers are paying for this as it adds nothing to the economy of other home nations!
Government contracts kerfuckingching.
Sure.
Builders be like....
The contractors =
The cost of a national project goes up and not down 😱
How can they justify an extra 18 million , oh how stupid of me, it's not their money.
Tick tock for bigben, so £18.6m, just to go tick tick tick..wouldnt you spend that money on shelter, food, homeless and housing.. I could have fixed BigBen with a hammer and screwdriver.
If you price for a job that’s the price how the fuck do these contractors get away with it.
Scallylad We dont need it.... pull it down
BONG
🤔🤔🤔 and they didn't see any of this, when they did a risk assessment or when getting a quote. Amazing. It's a bit like that train malarky... It's amazing where this cash comes from. It's almost like they are printing it themselves. 🤔 Just think what the NHS could do with it.
At least it's not as much as HS2
It`s time they got up to date and replaced it with a virtual digital face. This repair is costing a bomb!
they had Asbestos way back in the day
The last bombs were eighty years ago, seems to have stayed up all this time!
Surprise, surprise, lead paint and asbestos found in 170 year old building! These builders, they're not based in Peckham are they?
These government projects are bloody good earners for every Tory backing builder spiv eager to get their share of public money. And people complain that the EU is a gravy train. There must be a queue a mile long waiting to under quote the next project.
watch it shine.bangagong
This sounds like a contractor rip off, give a low price and rip them off later with extras. It is well known that the HP was bombed during WW2. Asbestos was commonly used as fire proofing during the 60 and 70's. Should have been in price.
Boris Johnson needs to get this rip off checked out. Which Minister is responsible for this robbery on the British Taxpayer. It looks as if it’s been priced with a finger in the air quotation and doubled. Total independant survey required to ensure price is authentic.
Knock it down and the houses of Parliament
Who did the original quote? Some passing jobbing builder & his apprentice Who would have guessed there would be asbestos and bomb damage in a building built so long ago. Once again the British mantra comes out 'Lessons will be Learnt' . It's taken 3 years for this to come out.!
This is totally ridiculous and obscene amount of money. I've no doubt that the contractors are laughing all the way to the bank.
Really. Do we need this now? £18m?!!
Maybe give the surveyors a call and ask for their insurance Co?
Old building cost more to repair. The alternative is , it will become a ruin.
This money should go to the NHS
What a crock!
lot a money wasted nothing new 😡
I’ll do it for £10m
Lot of 'teeth sucking' and pencil licking going on..
Costing a pretty chime!
Price is going to rise! I think we are acclimatised to being told complete twaddle about government claimed costs.
Why does this keep happening? ....Exceeding budget has become the norm BigBen
I suspect this is on par with monies spent on repairs to residential structures.
Waste of tax payers money. Let MPs pay for it, they can afford it.
How much to demolish it and sell the scrap?
Probs make that in a day through tourism!
Toy soldier can raise it through a Just Giving page....sure there will be plenty of donors in this golden age of Johnson we are all benefitting by.
There’s not a contractor or builder in the country that is able to finish a job for the same price quoted. When you have years upon years of hidden issues, you will never know the cost because of what can be uncovered.
That will be, at least, £5Ml for consultants to tell u 'yes, that's definitely asbestos ..'
Knock it down and start again in carbon fibre - should withstand anything inc BorisJohnson bombshells!
Leave it broken
The war ended 75 years ago and they've only just noticed there is bomb damage
Sounds like the South African Government ANC have something to do with this!!!
Time to go digital? JK
One day it will be announced that a building project has come in under budget...
What a surprise! This Govt cannot even repair a clock without the budget running out of control!
I'm sure if you hire a white van man he could probably clear the asbestos for about £100 by fly tipping it somewhere... Jobs a good un.
Cool, how many british citizens froze or starved to death last year?
Tory government need to be held accountable for the poor management in the past and present of the clock. Boris should go. Here is another 'project ' going over budget surprise surprise! Pretty obvious there would be asbestos due to the age.
They should have asked me! Any refurbishment work on old buildings is virtually impossible to price accurately. Until you can inspect buildings on the outside after scaffold has been erected and the inside is opened up you can’t spot nasties.
Lol wait until you see the final bill for HS2
It's an icon get the money spent it's nothing in terms of what we spend as a country and the work being done is keeping a lot of crafts alive. Glass specialists and stone masons as just some of the people who will benefit and that money goes back into the economy.
Should make ze germans pay for it 👍
THIS TOWER HAS BEEN FIXED ON NUMEROUS OCCASIONS.WHY WHERE THESE PROBLEMS NOT NOTICED THEN OR FIXED THEN. ROTTING CORPSE OF A BUILDING.INSIDE AND OUT. MOVEPARLIAMENT GET RID OF THE UNELECTED EX MPS WHO GET HONOURS FOR LOSING AN ELECTION.THE PEOPLE DID NOT CHOOSE THEM!
Stop paying the twats below it so much ... or get em to have wip round or make the bloody queen pay for it ! Not more on the poor tax payer !
Costs just ticking away.......
Get MP Mark Francois to set up a crowdfunding page
How can anyone miss £18m worth of work? Clearly incompetent when assessing the job in the first place. The asbestos is the responsibility of the owner - were they complicit in the incompetence? Seems likely as they had a legal responsibility for assessing asbestos.
Do you ever wonder where they pluck these numbers from? I mean there’s bound to be a contractor out there who’d do it for a couple of million cheaper at least?
Someone is getting rich out of this that's for sure.
Didn't see that coming did we. The country are ripping you off. Wake up.
I say don’t repair it
How was bomb damage not noticed before now? That scaffolding has been up for long time.
What’s the point of a budget (quote) for a job when it ends up like HS2 way more than original amount excuses no good the people that make these budgets probably earn a fortune and should do their job properly
Good use of money that
Gonna be very time consuming to fix 😉
Robert Powell didn't do it any favours swinging on the clock hands, either. BigBen The39Steps
Not worth it it's a clock...the money would be much better elsewhere
So. Perhaps Big Ben needs some Women's Change Rooms.. Australia Sports Rorts can help..🤔🤔
HS2 Bing Bong UniCredit and the Boris Trump school of government . I hear Karma coming down the tracks. BorisJohnson BBCPolitics SkyNews
bombs? religion of peace strike agen. thought brexit would fix this fumin
Who did the original estimate, was it fucking Stevie Wonder.
Not to worry, a could hours of not being in the EU will cover that won’t it?
Worthy. Every. Damn. Penny.
Get bob to fix it
Time really should be put on hold then ... To pause, to think & to meditate on where £18.6m could have gone! Think! There are approx 320,000 homeless in the UK alone so how can you justify spending money on 1 lot of bricks & mortar for those on the streets just to look at🤦♀️
效率真低诶
Could buy a nice Rolex for that price 😬🤭
Madnesssss! We could use that money elsewhere especially the NHS or Deaf Services for Deaf Children!
Just get it done. We want our clock back!
Get bob on to it he can fix it cheaper
Typical of a job funded by the Tax payer. Original quote was around £20m then Govt agreed an extra £32m in 2017 it now needs another £18m. Someone is seriously taking the P''s. It's obvious companies put in stupid quotes to secure the job and then revise it as they go. HS2?
Oh WOW....the same happened at my local ASDA this week. My tin of John West salmon, which cost £3.25 last week, had just risen to £245.99 because a meteorite landed in the middle of the school of salmon in the seas off Alaska 3000 years ago. Oh well, shit happens. 😂😂😂😉😉😉
It would have been cheaper, and probably more effective in the long run, to dismantle the whole building and put it back together again with new bits as required.
How much to demolish it?
It was only a matter of time (pun intended)
repair the sick, the homeless the poor ..the roads the railway...a bell tower.
How can there be that much asbestos in the tower £18mil if there was 20 tons in the tower it doesn’t cost a million pound a ton to remove . This is a case of think of a figure and multiply by a thousand.
Good job the country doesn't need any investment in anything else.
It's the Big Ben, you shouldn't talk about this like it's a pointless liability.
Priorities aye?
Who cares about the cost. It's our Big Ben paid by British tax payer. Long may it ring out. (after repairs)
It’s all right Scotland, Wales & N Ireland will chip in with more money even though it doesn’t contribute to any off these countries after all were chipping in with Hs2,Crossrail,Buckingham palace,House of Commons.
Where's the Brexiteers demanding the Germans pay for the bomb damage to be fixed?
Its the Elizabeth tower, big Ben is a fckn bell.
So far, I have seen figures of £16m, £18m and £80m! So which is it? The media needs to fact check before advertising the “truth”!! Because someone’s lying, Again!!
It has to be mended
I’d rather it go on Big Ben than dole scum.
Cant we just knock it down and replace it with a digital one?
Another carriage has been added to the gravy train
Yup fine, worth it.
Considering the age of the building, and the fact that the rest of it is riddled with asbestos, why didn't the expect to find asbestos? Don't they have a registered like the government expects everyone else to have?
There's also the problem of Anne Widdecombe squatting in there since the beginning of the month. Just imagine that. Anne Widdecombe squatting.
Surely they did a full check omg
Any firm that wins a contract with Govt are never going to miss an opportunity to add on to overall spend it's a given ( on this occasion seems justified but happens on every build unseen costs then factor in unseen profits as well win win for business involved
Get on with it! It's a national landmark, it's very aesthetic, and never fails to pose for countless cameras.
'discovery' .. it's how old and heavily checked .... Sounds like a bollocks excuse for delays and costs rises by money grabbers to me ..
It’s part of our national heritage. Stone masonry work doesn’t come cheap.
Big Ben, HS2, Crossrail. Original cost estimated by ' professionals ' , & consultants, for which they would have been well paid £££.. huge cost& time overrun. Nobody's responsible naturally, it's only public money 🤔
In the private sector you generally come in under budget and work more efficiently why isn't the public sector run like this.
The cost of projects in the UK is ridiculously unreasonable and unrealistic. They are deliberately making certain people rich. This needs to stop, these things needs to be regulated more properly and openly.
Should have built something new and fit for purpose in the midlands
It's bullshit. Contractors do this to government projects all the time because they can get away with it. Seeing as it's public funds no one in particular feels responsible. Once that company put the scaffolding up they knew that no matter what costs, the job was theirs.
No surprise at all. Any government building contract seams to go massively over budget. Wonder what MPs have shares in said company's. Especially hs2
That's a lot of money that could arguably be better spent elsewhere...
Is this a surprise?
It's only a clock what tells the time
Demolish the f***ing thing give the money to the NHS
I always thought the tower predated asbestos?
If Bojo made asbestos legal, like Trump did, he could keep the costs down.
.......and the inevitable discovery of coronavairus will raise the cost of repairing BigBen to £18.6 billion
Another cheap survey...
Complete waste of the taxpayer’s money.
German bombs presumably?
Isn’t it time they went digital ?
Upgrades or building done before the mid 80’s....ASBESTOS register please. Love to see which muppet didn’t have that costed in their risk register
Have a private sponsor pay for it. Big Ben with a large Costa sign on the side.
It’s worth every penny
nah, you just got dodgy builders making shit up and taking you for all the money they can grab lol
ITS ONLY TOOK THEM OVER 2 YEARS TO DISCOVER THIS OR TO TELL US THIS, BEST TO SCAPP IT AND BUY MICKEY MOUSE WATCH !
You Brits are so good at overspending on unnecessary sh:t like this and the Royal yet so frugal about immigrants and paying back to the people you once colonized. Kudos to you!
I though brexiteers were paying for it.
And in other news (while we are talking about spending more taxpayers money):
Are repairs being carried out by Hollywood movie stars or something RidiculousMoney !
Is every estimate for every job this government involved wildly off the mark? Whoever makes them up need firing.
Is it being made with gold?
Wouldn’t you just know it!! Can’t believe whatever company quoted in the first place didn’t cost in problems like this with such an old building. Call me cynical but just another cash cow methinks 😡
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You can't even buy a premier league right back for £18.6m - crack on and get the job done.
Something fishy about this
Meanwhile the queues to use the food bank and to see a doctor get longer Land of hope and glory.
It’s about time
Nothing new here. The Tory money tree will cover it. Just take it out of the NHS budget.
Only the second biggest toxic bell in the UK.
£80 million for a clock
Knock it down! That money could be used to support the homeless Trans community.
Well that's a turn up for the books
BorisJohnson ...Hey Boris - you could use the cash you saved from your holiday to give Big Ben a bung!
I’m amazed nobody clocked this stuff earlier.
I don't think people would mind but it's taking forever
Did they not expect to find asbestos? As you've said its 177 years old.
Imagine how much extra will be needed once they start on houses of parliament...
Fuck it just tear it down and build a starbucks.
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