Elizabeth Tower | Purcell

Jury citation:

Probably the most iconic building in this year’s RIBA Awards, the Elizabeth Tower is one of London’s most recognisable landmarks and home to the famous Big Ben bell, making it the symbolic timepiece of the nation.   Completed in 1859 to architect A.W.N. Pugin’s designs as part of the rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament, the tower has historically been subjected to renovation works every 30 years or so, most recently in the mid-1980s. Not all of those works have contributed positively to the preservation of its fabric. This latest programme of restoration was planned to rectify previous mistakes and extend the cycle of future repair works.   This project is a veritable masterclass in conservation and craftsmanship. The most comprehensive programme of works in the more than 160 years since the tower was built, it represents an astonishing achievement in upgrading and preserving this monument for the benefit of future generations.   Like many conservation projects, appreciating the achievement requires some investigation. The shape of the tower, the clock faces and the sounds of the bells are mostly appreciated from a distance, as a dominant presence within one of the world’s most recognisable skylines. The jury’s inspection was carried out from within, after entering through a very modest door to one side of the main thoroughfare of MPs and parliamentary staff going about their business. Work led by Purcell at the lower levels included extensive stone repairs, the refurbishment of various interior rooms for exhibitions and admin, and the clever insertion of a passenger lift which must be a welcome addition to the clock engineers and tour guides.   Climb to the top of some 350 spiral steps to the tower’s main functions, and the project’s achievements are fully revealed. Every element of the building fabric and the clock’s workings has been painstakingly examined, researched and assessed, to inform the complex programme of cleaning, repair, redecoration and renewal. Repairs to clock faces and the mechanism have improved the timekeeping accuracy, and the four clock faces have been lifted by replacing 1980s black paint with the original Prussian blue and gold. Various earlier alterations, some following 1940s bomb damage, have been reversed or replaced with more historically accurate insertions that also better protect interior areas from water ingress from the driving rain prevalent at such height. Monitoring and evaluation systems have been replaced to better manage the environmental conditions, essential for the maintenance of such sensitive timekeeping equipment.   The craftspeople required to deliver such a specialist project were drawn from right across the UK, with only the specialist hand-blown glass for the clock faces required to be sourced from overseas. The preservation of such incredible skill, workmanship and material appreciation for the nation is one of the defining achievements of the project. This went hand in hand with harnessing contemporary technologies and techniques to enable effective project coordination and implementation of more sustainable approaches, to preserve this defining symbol of British heritage for the future.

Contractor Sir Robert McAlpine

Architect, lead designer, principal designer Purcell

Building control SOCOTEC

CDM advisor AtkinsRealis

Cost manager Currie and Brown

Fire assurance Falck Consulting

Fire engineer Buro Happold

Fire assessor Ashton Fire

Mechanical and electrical engineer SI Sealy

NEC supervisor Purcell with Buro Happold and Alan Baxter Associates

Project manager Lendlease

Structural engineer AECOM

Cast iron roof and bronze windows Shepley Engineers

Construction support Clipfine

Clock dial and window re-glazing Reyntiens Studio

Clock refurbishment Cumbria Clock Company

Decoration of iron frame Universal Coatings

Fire stopping Kilnbridge/FSI

Fire systems Hall and Kay

Gilding and decoration Cliveden Conservation

Glass enclosure to belfry Firmans

Lifts Stannah

Mechanical and electrical services Tillbury Douglas

Site security Panthera

Civils Realtime

Safe access systems HCL Safety

Scaffold PHD

Steelwork Apex

Stonework and joinery DBR

Tritech Civils

Gross internal area 610m²