HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : Refurbishment of Treasury building [July 1997]

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 31 July 1997.

Paymaster General Geoffrey Robinson today announced that negotiations with Exchequer Partnership plc over the refurbishment of the Treasury building have been terminated. Following a review of options, Ministers will now decide what work on the building is needed and how it should be taken forward.

In a written answer to a Parliamentary Question by Stephen Timms MP (East Ham), Mr Robinson said:

“At a time when all Departments are undertaking comprehensive spending reviews and are subject to extremely tight expenditure controls, my Rt Hon Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer was unwilling to embark on a major construction project of this scale, which would have involved substantial expenditure and significant financial risks for the other Government occupants of the building in terms of the disposal of property elsewhere.  The plans to refurbish the main Treasury building under the Private Finance Initiative represented good value for money in their own terms, but Ministers judged they had to have regard for wider considerations.

“My Rt Hon Friend the Chancellor has therefore decided to terminate negotiations with our private sector partner, Exchequer Partnership plc”.