Houses of Parliament: The Yorkshire firm appointed to carry out work to help save historic building

Experts planning the essential work to save the failing Palace of Westminster will soon be unearthing the 150-year-old building’s secrets as part of the next stage of detailed and in-depth investigations.

Investigators will carry out dozens of detailed building surveys, looking at historic stonework, digging boreholes for underground examinations, conducting archaeological digs and mapping out asbestos, which is involving Leeds-based Rhodar.

Tens of thousands of hours of surveys have already been carried out as the Houses of Parliament Restoration and Renewal Programme, set up in law to save the building, develops a detailed plan that will for the first time set out costs and timescales for the essential work.

Parliament will be invited to approve a full plan next year.

In recent months, surveyors have been looking at a range of issues, including crumbling stonework and cracking ceilings. Over the Christmas recess, dozens of experts surveyed hundreds of areas for potential asbestos.

Next month, teams will carry out a further 19 studies during the recess. Estimates have put the repair cost as high as £14bn, way above the £4bn which had originally been floated.

It has been reported that the work will take 20 years, with MPs and peers having to move out during the restoration.