Reasons given included the need for more and complex work on the tower and clock, as well as further ground works to support the weight of the scaffolding. Parliament increased the amount of money set aside to pay for unexpected events or challenges that may arise as the scheme proceeds from £5.8m to £17.2m.

Completed in 1856, the tower was designed by architects Charles Barry and Augustus Welby Pugin and took 13 years to build. Its construction required 2600 cubic metres of brick and 850 cubic metres of stone. It began telling time on May 31, 1859. Big Ben chimed for the first time on July 11, 1859.

the Elizabeth Tower

the Great Bell

Big Ben will chime hourly again from early next year as work on Parliament’s Elizabeth Tower nears an end. The Great Clock, which the bell is part of, has been dismantled and repaired as part of the renovation project. …

Big Ben will ring again from early next year as the restoration of Parliament’s Elizabeth Tower nears completion. The famous bell has been largely silent since 2017 as repairs to the clock and to the Elizabeth Tower which houses it, have meant it only being reconnected for significant occasions.

Parliament confirmed on Monday that the project “is due to complete in the second quarter of 2022”, with the next 12 months seeing milestones “including the removal of further scaffolding, the re-installation of the Great Clock and the return of Big Ben’s world-famous chimes”.

Big Ben has been largely silent for the last three years during a major restoration project, but is permitted to ring its famous bells for momentous occasions such as Remembrance Sunday and New Year’s Eve but will now ring out to herald 2021.

At the start of 2020, the cost of the project rose to £80 million – £51 million more than the initial estimated price of £29 million in 2016. This was because the scale of the job was found to be bigger than expected.

Affectionately known around the world as Big Ben and shrouded in scaffolding since 2017, the Elizabeth Tower is being repaired from the gilt cross and orb at its tip, to the bottom of its 334-step staircase. This is the largest and most complex conservation project in the Tower’s history.