Growing bill to fix Britain's Big Ben
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Sunday, October 6, 2024


Growing bill to fix Britain's Big Ben
In this file photo taken on January 28, 2020 The clock face of Elizabeth Tower, known after the bell Big Ben, shows the hands at eleven o'clock as a Union Flag flies in front of it in London on January 28, 2020. The bill to repair London's iconic Big Ben clock tower has increased by millions of pounds after the discovery of World War II bomb damage, pollution and asbestos, Britain's parliament said on February 13, 2020. Justin TALLIS / AFP.



LONDON (AFP).- The bill to repair London's iconic Big Ben clock tower has increased by millions of pounds after the discovery of World War II bomb damage, pollution and asbestos, Britain's parliament said Thursday.

The cost of renovating the Elizabeth Tower housing the famous clock, which began in 2017, is now set to rise to nearly £80 million ($104 million, 95 million euros).

The extensive damage requiring an extra £18.6 million was only revealed once the project team was able to begin intrusive surveys for the first time ever on the 177-year-old structure.

However, the efforts to restore the tower "to its previous splendour" remain on track for completion in late 2021, according to officials.

A spokesperson for the House of Commons Commission, which is overseeing the project, called the spiralling costs "very frustrating".

Ian Ailles, director general of the House of Commons, said the task of restoring the Elizabeth Tower "had been more complex than we could have anticipated".

"With a 12m square (130 square feet) footprint and a prime location right in the middle of a busy working Parliament, understanding the full extent of the damage to the tower was impossible until the scaffolding was up," he added.

The work is to repair the clock faces and mechanism, cracks in the tower's masonry and corrosion in the roof, as well as to restore the edging around the clock faces to its original 19th-century colour.

A lift will also be installed as an alternative to the steps up the tower, and the lights illuminating the clock will be replaced by low-energy LEDs.

Completed in neo-Gothic style in 1856 by parliament architect Augustus Pugin, the tower has suffered from considerable degradation over time, and now even leans 46 centimetres (18 inches) off the vertical.

The renovations have meant Big Ben -- whose chimes feature on British television and radio news bulletins -- has been largely silent since 2017.

That has proved contentious, sparking protests in particular when they did not sound to mark Britain's departure from the European Union last month.

© Agence France-Presse










Today's News

February 14, 2020

McNay Art Museum opens first fashion and video art exhibition

Argentine researchers find distant Tyrannosaurus relative

Andrew Jones Auctions announces first Collections Curated by Designers of Distinction auction

In trippy times, Bill Graham took care of reality

Mudlarks scour the Thames to uncover 2,000 years of secrets

Nicolas Party's first Los Angeles solo exhibition opens at Hauser & Wirth

Frederick Koch, who spurned family business, dies at 86

Statues in winter woolies as Romanian museum bids to aid homeless

Gerald Peters Contemporary opens an exhibition of works by Maurice Burns

Napoleon meets his successor, in Timberlands

Tornabuoni Art opens the first ever London exhibition of the Italian Novecento

Art Institute of Chicago acquires monumental Tiffany stained glass window

Grown-up art at a Children's Museum. But it's still playtime.

Exhibition of the largest public display of material from the Levi Strauss & Co. Archives opens

Kalfayan Galleries opens a solo exhibition of new works by Edouard Sacaillan

Steidl publishes Joel Sternfeld's "American Prospects"

Tom Hunt joins Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac as Director

Lyle Mays, Pat Metheny Group keyboardist, is dead at 66

Solo exhibition of new work by Sebastiaan Bremer opens at Edwynn Houk Gallery

Fondazione Giuliani opens a solo show of works by Esther Kläs

Alessandro Bianchi, new General Manager of Pirelli HangarBicocca

Immersive sound and video installation by Stefan Karrer on view at Kunsthaus Baselland

Growing bill to fix Britain's Big Ben

Cantor Arts Center appoints Dr. Patrick Crowley as Associate Curator of European Art

Several major collections will be offered without reserve at Woody Auction

The Most Popular Batik Motifs in Indonesia




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful