§ Mr. Denzil DaviesTo ask the Chairman of the Accommodation and Works Committee if he will make a statement about the progress of the Portcullis House project and the effect upon it of recent announcements concerning the delay to the Jubilee line extension. [21516]
§ Sir Raymond PowellI am pleased to be able to report the progress which has been made with the design and procurement of the new parliamentary building, which Madam Speaker has agreed should be called Portcullis House. Contracts for the structure, the external envelope and all the main services have been awarded and off-site manufacture is well under way. The contractors and consultants are successfully overcoming problems which inevitably arise in such a complex building and, with good co-operation, will continue to be able to resolve them. The Committee had the opportunity recently to meet representatives of many of the firms involved. They can have no doubt of the importance that the House attaches to the building being completed on time and within budget. We were pleased to hear of the commitment and skills that they will bring to this demanding project.
As I advised my right hon. Friend the Member for Jarrow (Mr. Dixon) in my earlier reply, Official Report, 12 February 1997, columns 254–56, London Underground's work on the construction of the new Westminster station has not proceeded according to programme so it was not able to give possession of the site on 2 February 1997, the agreed date. Instead, there was to be a phased programme starting with the erection of the first tower crane at the beginning of May and increasing site possession from mid-May until the site was 687W to be transferred on 29 July. Although London Underground remains confident that it will achieve the July date, the early handover has been gradually eroded. Thus, our main construction work will start at a slower pace than we had planned and this will increase the pressure on the project team to complete construction of the building in the year 2000. It will require a concerted effort by all the contractors and consultants to achieve this objective.