Wates Construction selected to preserve the Victoria Tower
Wates Construction selected to preserve the Victoria Tower
Following a tender process, our Construction business has been awarded the £110.6m contract to repair and refurbish the iconic Victoria Tower, to preserve it for future generations.
The Tower, which sits at the south-west corner of the Palace of Westminster and was completed in 1860, is around three times the size of the Elizabeth Tower (which is home to Big Ben) and is an integral part of Parliamentary events, including the State Opening of Parliament.
The work on the grade 1 listed tower, which will begin mid-September and is expected to run until 2031, is a combination of essential safety work and key restoration and conservation work.
Over the course of the next six years, alongside specialist companies and craftspeople from across the UK, we will use a combination of traditional skills and new innovations and methods to:
- Repair and make safe the stonemasonry,
- Restore the window glazing,
- Strip and replace the roof, and
- Remove and restore the 22.3m flagpole that gives the tower the height advantage over its sister tower – the Elizabeth tower.
With the last significant works on Victoria Tower completed in the early 1990s – to prevent the build-up of pollution taking its toll on the parliamentary records archive that is stored within the tower, there is a lot to be done.
This project is a significant step forward for us in the public sector and heritage space, reflecting the outstanding work of both our pre-construction and delivery teams.”
Steve Holbrook
Managing Director, Construction London
We are proud to be driving the renovation and restoration of a place that is not only an iconic part of the London skyline but also a core part of our parliamentary system, with a key role in building and maintaining places for others to thrive in.
