Leaky Beehive requires urgent repair work

Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Beehive is in need of critical repairs, including the old copper roof that has been letting water into nine rooms.

Other essential repairs to the building where several ministers work include the basement flooring to stop water seeping into the Civil Defence bunker, and a new fire alarm panel.

The leaky roof was brought up in a select committee last year as "under some pressure".

In March this year, a pre-Budget Treasury paper said the roof needed critical work.

"The copper roof has become brittle and in some places corroded. Replacement of the roof has already been deferred since 2006 and is becoming critical," the paper said.

"The windows on the 10th floor also require replacement as they leak during bad weather.

"The replacement cannot be deferred without significant damage to the affected floors."

Fixing or replacing the roof and windows is "now critical to avert further damage to the building fabric", the Parliamentary Service 2011 to 2014 statement of intent says.

The Parliamentary Service has had to reprioritise $5 million in its budget this year to repair the Beehive roof and windows, which were originally built in the mid-1970s and missed out on a $54 million refurbishment project that took place from 1998 to 2006.

Parliamentary Service general manager Geoff Thorn said the leaky roof was affecting nine rooms on level 10 of the Beehive to varying degrees.

"We know that the roof is leaking in places, letting water inside and that the copper gutters are also leaking. We can see various windows that have corroded, and will require replacement."

The Cabinet room on the 10th floor and the Prime Minister's office on the ninth floor had been spared any leaks, he said.

An audit was being done to see the extent of the problem, and Mr Thorn hoped that the roof and windows would be fixed by late2013.

He said the drop in funding to the Parliamentary Service in recent years had not made any difference to repair plans.

It received an extra $5.011 million in this year's Budget for essential maintenance, but overall total appropriations fell by $2.8 million to $138 million.

CREAKS IN THE BEEHIVE
* Leaking roof.
* Fire alarm panel needs replacing.
* Basement flooring repairs to avoid water seeping into Civil Defence bunker under the Beehive.
* Electrical distribution board update.
* Chilled water remediation, essential for the heating and air-conditioning systems.