Britain’s royal family on Thursday revealed that in 2024, the Buckingham Palace reservicing programme marks its seventh year with the reopening of the East Wing.
The programme aims to protect the historic building from risk of fire or flood, to ensure the Palace is fit for purpose, and to preserve it for future generations.
In its statement on royal website, the royal family says the Palace's electrical cabling, plumbing and heating have not been updated since the 1950s. The building's infrastructure is in urgent need of a complete overhaul to prevent long-term damage to the building and its contents.
It further says like other working buildings, Buckingham Palace's essential systems consist of electrical wiring, heating, hot and cold water pipework, drainage and data systems.
Now, many of the services have exceeded their design life as specified by the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE). This can affect how they function, their efficiency and overall safety.
The royal family went on saying an independent report has established there are long term issues of conservation and repair.
"If these issues are not addressed they will present a significant risk to The Palace."
A significant amount of high priority works need to be undertaken over the next two years in order to avoid a catastrophic failure involving fire or flood.
Services need to be removed and replaced in order to provide a resilient, safe and efficient building.