Houses of Parliament Restoration and Renewal Programme - Dynamic Purchasing System for Collections Conservation Services

Description

The Palace of Westminster is an internationally recognised symbol of the UK and democracy, and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Extensive, complex work is needed to restore the Palace and as part of planning for restoration, teams are assessing and recording details of thousands of heritage items such as artworks and furniture within the Parliamentary Heritage Collections. The Parliamentary Heritage Collections are the national collection documenting the history, work and people of Parliament and comprise over 26,000 objects. They are made up of the Parliamentary Art Collection, the Historic Furniture and Decorative Art Collections and the Architectural Fabric Collection. Parliament’s Heritage Collections teams have overall responsibility for the conservation of these collections, and work closely with the Restoration & Renewal Delivery Authority Ltd (the limited company responsible for delivering the Palace of Westminster restoration and renewal works following necessary decisions from both Houses on the way forward which are expected in 2025). The Delivery Authority and UK Parliament have developed a plan for the establishment of a Dynamic Purchasing System (the DPS) for appointing collections care and conservation specialists to maintain, restore, conserve, and move where necessary Parliament’s collections now and during R&R works. Both the Restoration & Renewal Delivery Authority Ltd and the Houses of Parliament will be contracting authorities entitled to use the Collections Conservation Services DPS.