A flood of water has broken through the glass roof of Parliament’s Portcullis House.
A witness said there had been a big bang followed by a “deluge” of water after a pane of glass in the atrium roof of Portcullis House broke.
The building is part of the parliamentary estate, and houses MPs’ offices, with a central courtyard covered by a glass roof.
The area is used by MPs, their staff and journalists for meetings, and also has a canteen and cafe.
I was just sitting here and I just suddenly heard this huge bang and then a flood of water
A cordon and warning signs were placed around the area below the broken pane by parliamentary staff.
A large puddle and a piece of broken glass could be seen on the floor in the middle of the area, which had been cleared of people.
A frayed metal wire could also be seen dangling from the ceiling.
Mervyn Thomas, a researcher for the Bishop of Guildford who had been sat in Portcullis House as the incident took place, told the PA news agency: “I was just sitting here and I just suddenly heard this huge bang and then a flood of water.”
Ceiling of Portcullis house just cracked open and water pouring in! pic.twitter.com/e6CH8G9KnI
— Natasha Porter OBE (@NPorter_) July 11, 2023
Mr Thomas added: “A huge deluge, it was a big bang, I didn’t know what it was, and then it carried on, it slowly went down to a trickle eventually.”
He said he did not think anyone had been hurt, and told PA: “I saw people scattering but I don’t know if anybody was soaked through or not. I should imagine they were because – in fact I was going to go sit over there, I chose not to fortunately.”
The witness said that parliamentary authorities had cleared the area of people “within minutes”.
“There were people there within minutes clearing the chairs back, but the actual barriers were, I guess, within five minutes,” he said.
Parliamentary staff could be seen urging people gathered in Portcullis House to move further back from the cordoned area.
A House of Commons spokesman said: "Teams are currently attending to an issue with the atrium roof in Portcullis House.
"The central part of the atrium has been cordoned off, with additional safety mitigations implemented to allow us to continue our investigations.
"Committee meetings are still scheduled to take place, with amended access routes. Catering facilities remain open."
