National Infrastructure Commission chair Sir John Armitt has told a committee of peers and MPs that it will be ‘very difficult to judge’ the total cost of restoring the houses of parliament.

Speaking to the joint committee on the draft parliamentary buildings bill yesterday (30 January), Armitt, who was asked to address the committee due to his success leading the team behind the 2012 Olympics, said it was virtually impossible to work out the entire scope of the £4bn project ahead of time.

He said: “This is a job which is going to be very difficult to judge what its actually going to cost. Every time you open up a panel it will not be what you thought you were going to find and almost certainly to deal with it it will cost more than you thought it was going to cost.

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