Big Ben and Westminster’s Parliament buildings seen with scaffolding ready for the renovation program which could take 4 years and cost £29m.

Big Ben and Westminster’s Parliament buildings seen with scaffolding ready for the renovation program which could take 4 years and cost £29m. The cost of renovating the tower that houses Big Ben has more than doubled in 16 months from an estimated £29m in the spring of 2016 to £61m. The clock is to be dismantled piece-by-piece, with each cog examined and restored, the glass repaired, and the hands removed and refurbished. Though the clock's mechanism will also be dismantled, at least one clock face will continue to operate via a temporary modern electric system, but scaffolding will cover three of the four faces by the end of October 2017.