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Hidden below the chambers of parliament lies the Sports and Social Club, where researchers, journalists, caterers and maintenance workers congregate for cheap beer and a game of pool.

This is one of London鈥檚 dankest bars and the discreet entrance is hardly made more appealing by the construction work taking place outside. Workers from Shepley Engineers are repairing what are described as 鈥渦nique鈥� cast iron roofs, while scaffolding hangs from an arch as part of a two-year Mitie project to improve airflow to the debating chambers. Pertinently, information displayed explaining the nature of the latter job adds that this is a 鈥渃onstantly evolving scope of works鈥�, as systems and devices are found that are not on any record drawings.

Rebuilt to Sir Charles Barry鈥檚 neo-gothic designs following the 1834 fire that destroyed the original medieval complex (see timeline below), the Palace of Westminster is a Unesco World Heritage Site and a grade I-listed building. But it is in a terrible state of disrepair and slowly sinking into the River Thames - House of Commons speaker John Bercow recently warned that the palace will have to be abandoned within 20 years unless an extensive programme of investment starts soon.

Some, such as hotly-tipped Labour leadership candidate Chuka Umunna, take this as a cue that the time has come to move out of the place altogether. But for most, what is needed is a full-scale restoration programme.

This summer, a parliament-commissioned report by Deloitte Real Estate, consultant Aecom and engineer HOK International will outline options, costs and scope of work needed to salvage one of the world鈥檚 great physical symbols of democracy. But, whatever happens, there are likely to be criticisms of the cost and upheaval of the revamp, as well as feuds between politicians over their current and forthcoming working conditions.

The state we鈥檙e in

It鈥檚 good that there are so many mice around as it means there aren鈥檛 any rats

Michael McCann, Former Labour MP

Michael McCann, who led Labour鈥檚 Scottish contingent of MPs in the last Parliament, says: 鈥淚t鈥檚 good that there are so many mice around as it means there aren鈥檛 any rats鈥�. He once saw a mouse run up a peer鈥檚 leg in a tearoom - he thinks the ennobled gentleman did not notice as he was half-asleep - while McCann鈥檚 office, in the shadow cabinet block near the Speaker鈥檚 Court, was filled with mousetraps.

And working conditions are only getting worse. 鈥淚f you took a snapshot of the palace in 2010, when I entered parliament, and today, you would really notice the difference,鈥� says McCann. 鈥淭here is perpetual scaffolding around the building, not just externally but internally as well.鈥�

Graham Brady, the chair of the Conservatives鈥� powerful 1922 committee, points out that there are areas where there is no mobile phone reception or Wi-Fi access, while a leading Tory backbencher tipped for future office fumes at the 鈥渨oefully unprofessional, archaic, dysfunctional鈥� facilities and 鈥渢hreadbare IT鈥�. A member of the parliamentary lobby of political journalists says that during 15 years of working in the palace there has 鈥渁lways been building work鈥�; that off the main corridors are rooms filled with disused computers and dust, while the offices are too hot during the summer and freezing in winter, even with the central heating turned right up.

At present, the estate has asked geology experts to look at replacing weathered and disintegrating stone in the palace鈥檚 seven courtyards, a job that a source close to the work says will cost in the 鈥渓ow tens of millions鈥�. Some of the stone has been damaged by water from blocked gutters that have not been cleared quickly and vehicles knocking off lumps of brick.

The work involves sourcing pure limestone from Lincolnshire and magnesium limestone from South Yorkshire. A six-year job, this is likely to start later in 2015 and is one of the simpler projects on the estate.

The state to come

The major issues include chronic subsidence that is causing Big Ben鈥檚 Elizabeth Tower to lean slightly as the palace sinks into the mud.

The structure of the foundations is largely unknown, while a service tunnel running underneath parliament is crammed with different generations of technology, including telegraph equipment, fixed lines and broadband wiring. A parliamentary source says that two people could, originally, walk alongside each other through this tunnel, but there are now cramped areas where maintenance engineers have to crawl and weave awkwardly in order to do their work.

The Deloitte report will present the parliamentary commissioners, led by Bercow, with a range of ways of salvaging the palace, a job expected to start around 2020. This will include working around MPs and decanting them, either entirely or one chamber at a time.

Few believe that it is realistic that these huge works - which could require an Olympic Delivery Partner-style model to oversee the refurbishment - would be possible with all the politicians and workforce in place.

Angela Eagle, the shadow leader of the House of Commons and a commissioner, says: 鈥淚t鈥檚 getting harder and harder to maintain basic services - the toilets leak, the electricity is a problem, there are plumbing issues, and a lot of asbestos. The view of the facilities people is that we will need to decant - this is a World Heritage Site with more than 2,000 people working in it.鈥�

Although there has been much talk of temporarily, or even permanently, moving politicians to the North (see comment) as a regeneration boost, the reality is that MPs and peers need to be close to the machinery of Whitehall, while their offices in modern, neighbouring Portcullis House and the older Norman Shaw 好色先生TVs remain perfectly usable. Moving too far would be costly - which is one of the main reasons why communities department ministers quietly shelved the sale of the Queen Elizabeth II (QEII) conference centre during the last parliament. The centre is about 100 metres from the palace and is the 鈥渘o-brainer鈥� option given its size and flexibility.

As a commercial venture, the QEII centre is no money spinner and, as it is in state hands and is nearby, is by far the most realistic place to relocate politicians.

However, a row is brewing over the method of decantation. Many MPs want to remain within the splendour of the palace and think that refurbishing one chamber at a time is the preferable idea - provided they get to use the Lords鈥� red benches when the Commons鈥� work takes place. 鈥淲e should assert our constitutional authority and move out the Lords,鈥� says a senior Tory MP.

It鈥檚 getting harder and harder to maintain basic services - the toilets leak, the electricity is a problem, there are plumbing issues, and a lot of asbestos

Angela Eagle, Labour MP

One of the great privileges of being an MP is speaking in the House of Commons, but there is a growing fear that a full decampment will mean that one-termers elected in 2020 might not even speak there. A source at a leading construction company that is hopeful of eventually overseeing the revamp says that the restoration could take 鈥渁 parliament-and-a-half鈥� - seven-and-a-half years.

Moreover, the very much guesstimated cost, which has already increased from 拢2bn to 拢3bn, is almost certainly wrong. The poverty of the architectural records means there could be plenty of unforeseen problems during the work, and already it is known that the extent of the asbestos in the building is worse than was feared. The source is convinced the final price will be closer to 拢4bn - a large sum for the public to accept for the benefit of MPs after years of austerity - and the eventual bill could end up even higher.

Then there is the work on the Thames Tideway project to improve London鈥檚 overflowing sewage system, much of which will take place within a few hundred metres of the palace. 

鈥淭here will be a tunnel boring machine displacing silt and sand and no one鈥檚 sure about parliament鈥檚 foundations and so no one鈥檚 sure what would happen,鈥� says a leading infrastructure expert. 鈥淪ay a tunnel breaches, does Big Ben then fall over?鈥�

The result

The Houses of Parliament are in a state of disrepair that would be unimaginable to the politicians and special advisers on Capitol Hill in Washington. The offices are not fit for purpose and the IT is a running joke for an internet age.

If the UK wants the Palace of Westminster to remain the country鈥檚 home of democracy the taxpayer will have to shell out billions of pounds and MPs will have to accept a longer than expected period of loss of grandeur. Otherwise, the country will simply have to accept that the Houses of Parliament are not fit for working politicians and that today it is better used as a full-time tourist attraction.