Projects

Restoring and Renewing the Palace of Westminster

Restoring the Palace of Westminster while preserving its heritage

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Safeguarding a global landmark

Restoring and renewing an iconic symbol of democracy is no simple task. The Palace of Westminster, home to the U.K. Parliament, a Grade 1 listed building and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, requires significant and extensive repair. There has been no overall renovation of the building since partial rebuilding following bomb damage in the Second World War, and some of the building’s services are much older than this. Work is required to reduce the risks to the Palace of Westminster, caused by deterioration of the building and the huge network of ageing services that support it.

The Restoration & Renewal (R&R) Program is the largest and most complex heritage renovation ever undertaken in the U.K. Jacobs has supported this once-in-a-generation effort since 2017, helping the Delivery Authority (the DA) and preparing Parliament for key decisions. Today, Jacobs leads the Program Management Office (PMO) and along with our appointed cost consultant, developed cost, schedule and risk estimates for delivery options within the costed proposals report to be included in the program business case (PBC) for Parliament. We oversee the design partner through the concept design stage (RIBA 2) for both the Palace and the proposed temporary accommodation for the House of Lords. We’ve also led extensive surveys and investigations to improve understanding of the building’s condition and historical features.

The challenge

With 1,100 rooms, 14 miles of pipes, 250 miles of cabling and only 12% step-free access, the Palace is more like an estate than a single building. It spans 34 acres with 65 different floor levels and over 100 staircases. Much of its infrastructure has reached the end of its lifespan.

While work is ongoing to ensure the continued safety of those working in and visiting Parliament, comprehensive restoration of the Palace of Westminster is required. The R&R program will upgrade critical systems, address fire and flood risks, repair building fabric, improve accessibility and continue to safeguard the health and safety, of the more than 3000 people who work or visit the site each day.

Jacobs’ role: Program leadership for a historic undertaking

How do you plan and deliver a program of unprecedented scale and complexity? You lead with proven expertise, a global perspective and a legacy of success.

Harnessing Jacobs’ global expertise to meet client needs

We bring a strategic, big picture perspective that brings insight, innovation and risk management. Bold decisions are built on trust, enabled by our world-class Project Management Office, staffed with leaders from landmark programs like the Elizabeth Line, Team 2100, Suedlink, Grand Central Madison. Our R&R team draws on experience from projects such as Thames Tideway, HS2, Lower Thames Crossing, East West Rail and Transpennine Route Upgrade ensuring a robust, benchmarked approach.

This is further strengthened by specialists across delivery models, planning, sustainability, health and safety and organizational development. Our clients benefit from the full strength of our people, systems and processes —empowering confident, forward-thinking decisions.

“Jacobs has been a key partner for the Restoration and Renewal Delivery Authority in this first stage of the program. Jacobs’ expertise has been fundamental to helping us understand this historic and complex building, develop proposals for how the work could be delivered, and estimate the time, cost and risks associated with the work. Being agile, responsive and innovative have been important characteristics of the Jacobs team to navigate the complex stakeholder environment for agreement of the proposals.”

Matthew White

R&R Programme Director, Restoration and Renewal Delivery Authority Ltd

Did you know?

3000

Average daily number of workers at the Palace of Westminster
34

Acres covered - larger than 18 soccer (football) pitches
1100

Rooms in the Palace, including 3,900 individual spaces and three miles of passageways
3

Iconic towers: Elizabeth Tower (houses Big Ben), Victoria Tower and Central Tower
12 %

Step-free access inside the building

Supporting a culture of health, safety and wellness (HSW)

Jacobs helped embed a strong safety culture in a uniquely constrained environment. From establishing core HSW roles to developing procedures and tools like signature readiness reviews and health & safety performance indicators (HSPIs), we’ve transferred lessons learned from Tideway, Crossrail and other major programs.

Our team supported Parliament’s transformational health and safety initiative and helped train the R&R program’s mental health ambassadors — another example of applying proven practices from across Jacobs.

Unlocking value through innovation

Jacobs uses our proprietary Value Plus platform to identify and quantify ideas that improve project execution and delivery and a greater return on investment to our clients. Savings can be recorded in financial costs, carbon emissions, energy consumption, waste avoidance, green building certification and community and social benefits. We challenge conventional thinking and approaches, suggest new technologies, or streamline processes, materials or labor. These ideas have informed delivery planning and the bespoke business intelligence tool established in response to the Houses’ request for a wider range of options to choose from.

Harness river-based experience

One of the most beneficial programs for crossover lessons was the Thames Tideway Tunnel. The Thames offers a valuable logistics route for deliveries and site access, helping to reduce disruption and increase efficiency.

Managing complexity through digital and predictive tools

The complexity and scale of the R&R program requires innovative approaches. Success relies on a bespoke blend of talent, insights, critical thinking, technology and adaptability. This is achieved through a shared culture and strong leadership at every level.

Our team on R&R, supported by Jacobs’ reputation, has built credibility, consistency and responsiveness with the client, delivering under intense time pressures and scrutiny. They confidently shape and lead the program, using market knowledge to engage an external company with AI-powered technology for schedule assurance. Our 4D technology expertise has produced time-based models for communicating the Palace renewal to key stakeholders.

Key team members

Paul Tucker, Program Director (current)

Having been on the program since 2018 as head of PMO and part of the program leadership team responsible for the early formation of R&R, Paul leads Jacobs’ delivery, focusing on business case completion and contract close-out. He brings many years of senior-level experience on major capital programs, shaping and leading teams and within various delivery models helping to establish and drive the program forward.
Chris Darton, Program Director (previous)

Chris led Jacobs’ work on the program for two and a half years, drawing on extensive experience leading major programs. Chris specializes in forming, developing and leading large teams in complex delivery environments with multi-billion-dollar capital expenditure. Chris applies program and systems thinking to the delivery of restoration and renewal of this iconic world heritage site.
Susan Howley, Head of PMO (Program Management Office)

Susan joined the program in 2019 and successfully integrated the R&R, Northern Estates and Strategic Estates schedules, within a year. She developed processes, facilitated workshops and engaged stakeholders. Susan then led the schedule team through complex construction estimating rounds and managed routine planning and milestone reporting. Susan is now leading the PMO through project close-out for this phase.
John Gullick, Senior Project Manager

John joined the program in 2019 to lead on stakeholder engagement and consents before heading the palace surveys team. He has built strong relationships with the client and parliamentary representatives and successfully delivered the program of intrusive sitework—marking the first R&R presence to leave a positive legacy on the estate, particularly in health and safety and efficient delivery.
Nick Browne Senior Project Manager

A chartered civil engineer, Nick joined the program in 2019 and led the successful delivery of the RIBA 2 design (including cost, schedule and risk estimates) for both the House of Lords Temporary Accommodation Project (QEII Conference Centre) and the Palace of Westminster main construction works. He also led the appraisal of 36 different delivery options narrowing them to two preferred scenarios. Throughout, Nick fostered strong collaboration across the client team, delivery authority and supply chain.
Matthew Wong, Project Manager

A chartered civil engineer and project manager, Matthew has a wealth of experience managing and delivering major programs. He joined R&R in 2020 to help establish and deliver key projects, including the House of Lords accommodation, intrusive surveys and the Palace of Westminster. He has led the development and implementation of core procedures such as the construction design and management (CDM) assurance process, project lifecycle framework, design reviews, information management and data migration and handover and closeout. Matthew is also the lead author of R&R’s project delivery handbook.
Ashlee Jesshope, Project Manager

Ashlee is a project manager and chartered civil engineer highly experienced across consulting, government, delivery authorities and international joint ventures. She excels at leading engineering and project management teams and engaging with boards, executives, clients and stakeholders to deliver projects from business cases to completion and handover.