Buckingham Palace Renovation: £369M Project Nears Completion

A GBP£369 million (US$477 million) building renovation programme aimed at protecting London’s famous Buckingham Palace from a devastating fire or flood has so far completed 82 percent of operational improvements and spent around 65 percent of its budget according to a report by the UK’s National Audit Office.

The NAO, which audits the financial statements of all government departments, agencies, and other public bodies, said that the decade-long project which began in 2017, demonstrated “good practice in numerous areas.” 

The Buckingham Palace Renovation programme, which is being run by the Master of the Household who leads an in-house programme management office and an operations team, is funded through an uplift to the Sovereign Grant. It includes replacing 3.5 kilometres of electric cabling which had previously not been updated since the 1950s, as well as an update to heating systems, lifts, and lavatories.

“Updating decades-old plumbing, heating, and electrics, as well as adding new lifts and lavatories in one of the UK’s most famous buildings is a significant undertaking, which has been well-handled to date,” said Gareth Davies, head of the NAO in a statement.

“There are plenty of important lessons here for heritage projects and those taking place in a live environment.”

The report comes as the UK parliament is again being urged to undertake a major renovation at the nearby Houses of Parliament whose antiquated electrical, water, and heating systems leave the Unesco World Heritage site at risk of catastrophic fire or flood damage.

The NAO reported that net expenditure for the project at the palace was £238.9 million (US$309 million) at the end of March 2024. It said that the Household’s phased approach made it possible to better manage risks and uncertainty and enabled the team to reset the programme’s timeline and delivery strategy three times.

Nonetheless, it was reported that some individual projects at the Grade I listed building have increased in cost and taken longer than expected to complete. These include renovations to the building’s East Wing which were completed more than two years later than planned and by March 2024, were 78 percent over their original estimated costs.

The audit office said that challenges such as the Covid pandemic and supply chain difficulties had been outside the Household’s control but that other challenges the project encountered such as the discovery of more asbestos and structural damage than originally envisaged, could have been foreseen.

An operations Appraisal Report and Business Case for the ten-year programme was drawn up in 2015 by a consortium of companies including US-based engineering and design firm WSP (formerly Parsons Brinckerhoff), US-based architect HOK, UK-base cost consultant Gleeds and UK-based construction adviser Sir Robert McAlpine.

The palace, which is the residence and administrative headquarters of King Charles III, mostly dates from 1703 and was acquired by George III as a private residence for Queen Charlotte. The building is used by more than 700 staff and hosted around 50,000 guests in 2023-24 who attended a range of events from small lunches to garden parties and investitures. Around 500,000 people visit the palace during its annual summer opening.