Portcullis House is an office building in
WestminsterThe City of Westminster is a borough of London with city status. It is located west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, and forms part of Inner London and the bulk of London's central area....
,
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, was commissioned in 1992 to provide offices for 210
Members of ParliamentA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators. Members of...
and their staff, augmenting limited space in the
Palace of WestminsterThe Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament, is the seat of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
and surroundings.
The architects,
Michael Hopkins and PartnersHopkins Architects is a prominent British architectural firm established in 1976 by Michael and Patricia Hopkins. The practice has won many awards for its work and has twice been shortlisted for the Stirling Prize, including in 2006 for Evelina Children's Hospital...
, published their design in 1993 and the existing buildings on the site were demolished in 1994. At the same time,
London UndergroundThe London Underground, Underground or Tube is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and neighbouring areas of Essex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire in the UK. The first section opened in 1863, and was the first underground railway system in the world, and, starting in...
was building the
Jubilee Line ExtensionThe Jubilee line extension is the extension of the London Underground Jubilee line from Green Park to Stratford through south and east London. An eastward extension of the Jubilee line was first proposed in the 1970s and a modified route was constructed during the 1990s...
, including a new interchange station at
Westminster tube stationWestminster is a London Underground station in the City of Westminster. The station is served by the Circle, District and Jubilee lines. On the Circle and District lines the station is between St. James's Park and Embankment stations. On the Jubilee line it is between Green Park and Waterloo stations...
which occupies the same area; the two were thus designed and built as a single unit.
Portcullis House is an office building in
WestminsterThe City of Westminster is a borough of London with city status. It is located west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, and forms part of Inner London and the bulk of London's central area....
,
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, was commissioned in 1992 to provide offices for 210
Members of ParliamentA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators. Members of...
and their staff, augmenting limited space in the
Palace of WestminsterThe Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament, is the seat of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
and surroundings.
History and use
The architects,
Michael Hopkins and PartnersHopkins Architects is a prominent British architectural firm established in 1976 by Michael and Patricia Hopkins. The practice has won many awards for its work and has twice been shortlisted for the Stirling Prize, including in 2006 for Evelina Children's Hospital...
, published their design in 1993 and the existing buildings on the site were demolished in 1994. At the same time,
London UndergroundThe London Underground, Underground or Tube is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and neighbouring areas of Essex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire in the UK. The first section opened in 1863, and was the first underground railway system in the world, and, starting in...
was building the
Jubilee Line ExtensionThe Jubilee line extension is the extension of the London Underground Jubilee line from Green Park to Stratford through south and east London. An eastward extension of the Jubilee line was first proposed in the 1970s and a modified route was constructed during the 1990s...
, including a new interchange station at
Westminster tube stationWestminster is a London Underground station in the City of Westminster. The station is served by the Circle, District and Jubilee lines. On the Circle and District lines the station is between St. James's Park and Embankment stations. On the Jubilee line it is between Green Park and Waterloo stations...
which occupies the same area; the two were thus designed and built as a single unit. Construction began with works to the existing
District LineThe District line is a line of the London Underground, coloured green on the Tube map. It is a "sub-surface" line, running through the central area in shallow cut-and-cover tunnels. It is the busiest of the sub-surface lines and the third busiest overall on the Underground network. Out of the 60...
station at sub-basement level. The track had to be lowered slightly and underpinned to allow the extensive excavation to the
Jubilee LineThe Jubilee line is a line on the London Underground , in the United Kingdom. It was built in two major sections - initially to Charing Cross in Central London, and later extended in 1999 to Stratford in East London. The later stations are notable for their larger size and safety features...
many feet below. The building above ground began to rise in 1998 and opened in 2001. It is located at the corner of Bridge Street and
Victoria EmbankmentThe Victoria Embankment, is part of the Thames Embankment, a road and walkway along the north bank of the River Thames in London. Victoria Embankment extends from the City of Westminster into the City of London....
, overlooking the
River ThamesThe River Thames is a major river flowing through southern England. While best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows through several other towns and cities, including Oxford, Reading and Windsor....
.
The building is named after the chained
portcullisA portcullis is a latticed grille or gate made of wood, metal or a combination of the two. Portcullises fortified the entrances to many medieval castles, acting as a last line of defense during time of attack or siege...
used to symbolise the Houses of Parliament on letterheads and official documents. Portcullis House accommodates about one third of Members of Parliament; other Members and Parliamentary departments have offices in the two Norman Shaw Buildings, at 1
Parliament StreetParliament Street is the name of several places including:*Parliament Street, Exeter, the world's narrowest street in Exeter, England*The southern extension of Whitehall in London, leading to Parliament Square and the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
, at 7
MillbankMillbank is an area of central London in the City of Westminster. Millbank is located by the River Thames, east of Pimlico and south of Westminster...
and in the
Palace of WestminsterThe Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament, is the seat of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
itself.
The first floor of Portcullis House is entirely open to members of the public, to allow public attendance at Committee sessions etc. Throughout the rest of the building, as with the rest of the Parliamentary Estate, members of the public must remain with a passholder. The entrance is guarded by police, and all visitors must submit their bags and coats for X-raying, as well as passing through a
metal detectorA metal detector is a device which uses electromagnetic induction to detect metal.The simplest form of a metal detector consists of an oscillator producing an alternating current that passes through a coil producing an alternating magnetic field...
and undergoing a body check.
At more than one million pounds per Member of Parliament, Portcullis House is one of the most expensive office buildings in the world.
Architecture
The building was designed by
Michael Hopkins and PartnersHopkins Architects is a prominent British architectural firm established in 1976 by Michael and Patricia Hopkins. The practice has won many awards for its work and has twice been shortlisted for the Stirling Prize, including in 2006 for Evelina Children's Hospital...
and incorporates Westminster tube station below it. A thick slab of concrete separates Portcullis House from the station, reportedly to defend against any underground bomb attacks. The load is borne by the walls, without interior posts. The corners of the building are hung from the roof using massive steel beams. The design life of 120 years meant that
aluminium bronzeAluminium bronze is a type of bronze in which aluminium is the main alloying metal added to copper. A variety of aluminium bronzes of differing compositions have found industrial use, with most ranging from 5% to 11% aluminium by weight, the remaining mass being copper; other alloying agents such...
was chosen for exposed metal on the roof and walls.
The building's curious profile, with its rows of tall chimneys, is intended to recall the Victorian Gothic design of the Palace of Westminster and to fit in with the chimneys of the Norman Shaw Building next door. Portcullis House's chimneys are not used to expel fumes but are part of an unpowered air conditioning system, which is designed to draw air through the building by exploiting natural
convectionConvection is the movement of molecules within fluids . Convection is one of the major modes of heat transfer and mass transfer...
flows. It is based on the system used in 1996 in the
Eastgate Centre, HarareThe Eastgate Centre is a shopping centre and office block in central Harare, Zimbabwe whose architect is Mick Pearce. Designed to be ventilated and cooled by entirely natural means, it was probably the first building in the world to use natural cooling to this level of sophistication...
,
ZimbabweZimbabwe , is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the continent of Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers...
.
The building itself is created to look and feel like a ship inside. All the offices and passages are made up with bowed windows and light oak finishing. Each floor looks identical to the others except the ground floor which houses the main courtyard with ship-like metallic sails suspended overhead. The courtyard is decorated with trees and two shallow baths of water.
The offices at Portcullis House are generally in sets of two sharing a common bay in the centre. Each floor is unofficially allocated to a different political party so that generally MPs with similar politics are kept together. The first floor houses a number of conference suites and committee rooms, which are named after famous politicians
Betty BoothroydBetty Boothroyd, Baroness Boothroyd of Sandwell OM, PC is a British politician, who served as Member of Parliament for West Bromwich and West Bromwich West from 1973 to 2000 and was the first, and to date only, female Speaker of the British House of Commons between 1992 and 2000.-Early...
,
Harold MacmillanMaurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC was a British Conservative politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 January 1957 to 18 October 1963....
,
Margaret ThatcherMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher LG, OM, PC, FRS served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She is the only woman to have held either post....
,
Clement AttleeClement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
,
Harold WilsonJames Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, PC was a British Labour Party politician; one of the most prominent British politicians of the latter half of the 20th century, he served two terms as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, firstly from 1964 to 1970, and again from 1974...
, and
Jo GrimondJoseph "Jo" Grimond, Baron Grimond CH, CBE, PC was a British politician, leader of the Liberal Party from 1956 to 1967 and again briefly in 1976.-Early life:...
. These Committee rooms are accessible to the public and are fitted with television cameras and microphones, to broadcast the proceedings via
BBC ParliamentBBC Parliament is a British television channel from the BBC. Its remit is to make accessible to all the work of the parliamentary and legislative bodies of the United Kingdom and the European Parliament...
and via
parliamentlive.tv.
All rooms in the building are fitted with
annunciators (monitors which announce in real-time the current business in the Chambers of the House of Commons, the
House of LordsThe House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is also commonly referred to as "the Lords". Parliament comprises the Sovereign, the House of Commons , and the Lords...
, or both).
Division bells are also installed throughout the building, which alert MPs to the calling of a
division (vote)A division is a parliamentary mechanism which calls for a rising vote, wherein the members of the house literally divide into groups indicating a vote in favour of or in opposition to a motion on the floor...
in the Chamber of the House of Commons.
On the ground floor are a range of services including a waiter-service restaurant ("The Adjournment"), informal cafeteria ("The Debate") and a coffee shop ("The Despatch Box"). There is also a Post Office and an
e-Library, an enquiry point where Members and staff can use networked computers, run by the
House of Commons LibraryThe House of Commons Library is the library and information resource of the lower house of the British Parliament. It has adopted the phrase Contributing to a well-informed democracy as a summary of its mission statement.- History :...
. There is also an underground passage into the Palace of Westminster and a connection to the 1 Parliament Street building and to the Norman Shaw Buildings.
Cost
When commissioned in 1992 the cost of Portcullis House was to be £165m. After building cost inflation and delays, the price increased to £235m. Costs included £150,000 for decorative
fig treesFicus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes, and hemiepiphyte in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The so-called Common Fig Ficus ...
, £2m for electric blinds and, for each MP, a reclining chair at £440.
External links