Restoration and Renewal CEO resigns

The CEO and several members of senior staff at the Restoration and Renewal sponsor body have announced that they are leaving the project following Parliament’s decision to scrap it. Their departure comes after the Commons and Lords commissions agreed in February to replace the body, which had been established to deliver the project.

The sponsor body’s CEO Sarah Johnson said in a statement that she would be quitting her role before the summer parliamentary recess.

“In the light of the decisions made by the Commissions of both Houses earlier this year, it is right that new arrangements are taken forward for the future of the restoration,” she said.

Three other senior members of staff are also leaving: Amanda Colledge, business case director; Claire Maugham, communications director; and Chris Sexton, chief of staff.

“The Commissions of both Houses have stated they are committed to preserving the Palace and are exploring whether a new approach could enable R&R to be delivered in a different way,” Johnson added.

“The Delivery Authority is continuing with its programme of surveys and investigations into the condition of the buildings which will inform future decisions.”

Plans provisionally agreed in 2018 proposed that parliamentarians should decant to nearby Richmond House while restoration of the estate took place.

But a 2021 report by the sponsor body recommended that the decant last up to 20 years, at a cost of £14 billion, as damage to the Palace was more widespread than initially anticipated.