Portcullis House

Portcullis House, the London Eye and Big Ben

Portcullis House from Westminster Bridge

Portcullis House is a building in Westminster, London, used as offices for members of Parliament. Office space has traditionally been very hard to find in the Palace of Westminster and nearby buildings, so in 1992 the House authorised the construction of a new building to provide offices for MPs and their staff. Image File history File links Portcullis House, London. ... Image File history File links Portcullis House, London. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2288x1712, 654 KB) Portcullis House, the London Eye and Big Ben. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2288x1712, 654 KB) Portcullis House, the London Eye and Big Ben. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1842x1416, 489 KB) Portcullis House, London, England. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1842x1416, 489 KB) Portcullis House, London, England. ... Westminster is a district within the City of Westminster in London. ... London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England and is the most populous city in the European Union. ... A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district to a parliament; in the Westminster system, specifically to the lower house. ... The Palace of Westminster, known also as the Houses of Parliament, is where the two Houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (the House of Lords and the House of Commons) conduct their sittings. ...

The building is at the corner of Bridge Street and Victoria Embankment, overlooking the River Thames. The architects, Michael Hopkins & Partners, published their design in 1993 and the existing buildings on the site were demolished in 1994. At the same time London Underground was building the Jubilee Line Extension including a new interchange station at Westminster tube station which occupies the same area so the two were designed and built as a single unit. 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 bronze was chosen for exposed metal on the roof and walls. Victoria Embankment, London The Victoria Embankment, previously the Thames Embankment is a road and walkway along the north bank of the River Thames in London in the cities of Westminster and London. ... The Thames (pronounced //) is a river flowing through southern England and connecting London with the sea. ... Wellcome Trust building on Euston Road Sir Michael Hopkins CBE (b. ... The nickname the Tube comes from the circular tube-like tunnels through which the small-profile trains travel. ... Canary Wharf tube station The Jubilee Line Extension is the extension of the London Underground Jubilee Line into southern and eastern London, UK. First proposed in the 1970s, it was constructed in the 1990s and finally opened just before Christmas 1999. ... Westminster tube station on the London Underground serves the Circle, District and Jubilee lines. ... Aluminium bronze is a type of bronze in which aluminium is the main alloying metal added to copper. ...

Construction was a long process, beginning with works to the existing District Line station at sub-basement level. The track had to be lowered slightly and underpinned to allow the extensive excavation to the Jubilee Line many metres below. The building above ground did not begin to rise until 1998 and did not open until 2001. When it did, there were many newspaper stories complaining about the expense which included the hire of a number of fig trees for the courtyard. The District Line is a line of the London Underground, coloured green on the Tube map. ... The Jubilee Line is a line on the London Underground, coloured silver grey on the Tube map. ...

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 ingenious, unpowered air conditioning system, which is designed to draw air through the building by exploiting natural convection flows. It is based on the system used in 1996 in the Eastgate Centre, Harare, Zimbabwe. ... Convection is the transfer of heat by currents within a fluid. ... The Eastgate Centre is a shopping centre and office block in central Harare, Zimbabwe. ...

The building is named after the chained portcullis used to symbolise the Houses of Parliament on letterheads and official documents. Portcullis House accommodates only one third of Members of Parliament; other parliamentary offices are located in the Norman Shaw Building, until 1967 the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police but converted between 1973 and 1979 for parliamentary use, and at 1 Parliament Street, at 7 Millbank, and in the Palace of Westminster itself. A portcullis in Edinburgh Castle A portcullis is a grille or gate made of wood, metal or a combination of the two. ... This may refer to the: British Houses of Parliament. ... Metropolitan Police redirects here. ... Parliament Street is the name of several places including The southern extension of Whitehall in London, leading to Parliament Square and the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... Millbank is an area of London, England, that is east of Pimlico and south of Westminster. ...

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 Boothroyd, Harold Macmillan, Margaret Thatcher, Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson, and Jo Grimond. On the ground floor are a range of services including a formal restaurant ('The Adjournment'), informal cafeteria ('The Debate') and a snack shop ('The Despatch Box'). There is also a Post Office and the 'e-Library' where Members and staff may use networked computers. The Right Honourable Betty Boothroyd, Baroness Boothroyd, OM, PC (born 1931 in Dewsbury), is a widely respected British politician. ... The Right Honourable Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC (10 February 1894–29 December 1986), nicknamed Supermac and Mac the Knife, was a British Conservative politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. ... Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (born 13 October 1925) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. ... Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC (3 January 1883–8 October 1967) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951. ... James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, PC (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was one of the most prominent and successful British politicians of the 20th Century. ... Joseph Jo Grimond, Baron Grimond (July 29, 1913 - October 24, 1993) was a British politician, leader of the Liberal Party from 1956 to 1967 and again briefly in 1976. ...