Portcullis House London Architect, Flaws, Parliament, Picture, Location, Cracks, Date, Design Photo

Portcullis House London Architecture

Parliament Building Leaks, Westminster design by Hopkins + Partners architects, England, UK

17 Jun 2016

No risk posed by Portcullis House roof, says study

A year-long study into the causes of cracks in roof panels at the Hopkins-designed Portcullis House has completed, reports the Architect’s Journal.

Link: http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/no-risk-posed-by-portcullis-house-roof-says-study/10007683.article?blocktitle=News&contentID=16149

8 Mar 2016

Portcullis House Faults

MPs may sue over Portcullis House Flaws

The atrium has been littered with scaffolding and buckets catching water ever since the building opened in 2001, reports The Independent.

MPs want to sue the architecture and engineering firms that built their £235m office block in Westminster over the cracks and leaks in its atrium roof.

Portcullis House London Building
photo by Mark Ahsmann – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25481640

Last week The IoS revealed that consultants have been hired by the House of Commons to work out how the structure might be repaired. MPs on the 11-strong finance committee fear the consultants will recommend installing a new roof that could cost £100m. Some of them raised the prospect of suing Hopkins + Partners, which designed Portcullis, and the structural engineer Arup.

Portcullis House London
photo by http://www.cgpgrey.com, CC BY 2.0, http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37329922

Allowing for inflation, Portcullis is one of the most expensive buildings of its size ever constructed in the UK; a tunnel links it to the Palace of Westminster.

The situation is further complicated because Arup is also bidding for work on a much bigger job: the refurbishment of the Houses of Parliament , which could cost as much as £7bn when it starts in the early 2020s:
Palace of Westminster London
picture courtesy of architects Foster + Partners

Arup is one of the world’s most respected engineering groups; its most famous project was the Sydney Opera House. Hopkins is considered to be one of an elite group of British architecture firms; its work includes the much lauded velodrome in the London 2012 Olympic Park and the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton, south-west London.

Website: Portcullis House flaws – article

Website: Portcullis House Building

Portcullis House London

Parliament building

2 Bridge Street, Westminster, London, England
Date built: 1989-2000
Architects: Hopkins + Partners

Photo © Keepclicking – added 10 Sep 2012:

Portcullis House

General views of the building:

Parliament Office Building in Westminster London Parliament building Westminster Portcullis House Westminster
building photographs © Adrian Welch, May 2007

Below the building is Westminster Underground Station, also by the same architects, Hopkins + Partners, built in 1990-99.

Palace of Westminster building:

Palace of Westminster
Houses of Parliament London : photo © Adrian Welch, May 2007

Michael Hopkins of Hopkins Architects

Address: 1 Parliament St, Westminster, London SW1A 2JR, United Kingdom

Construction started: 1992
Construction completed: 2001

Phone: +44 20 7219 3000

Nearest Tube Station: Westminster

Location: 2 Bridge Street, Westminster, London, SW1A 2LW, England, UK

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Key Buildings close by include:

Houses of Parliament
Architects: Barry + Pugin
Houses of Parliament
photograph © Nick Weall
Houses of Parliament Building

Westminster Abbey
unknown
Westminster Abbey London
photo © Nick Weall
Westminster Abbey Building

Photos of this UK Government Westminster office building taken with Panasonic DMC-FX01 lumix camera; Leica lense: 2816×2112 pixels – original photos available upon request: info(at)e-architect.com

Scottish Parliament Building

Comments / photos for the Portcullis House Westminster building design by Hopkins + Partners architects page welcome