page_title: Portcullis House
section_title: History and use
hierarchical_section_title: Portcullis House / History and use
caption_attribution_description: Portcullis House, the London Eye and Big Ben. Photographed by Adrian Pingstone in June 2005 and released to the public domain.
context_page_description: Portcullis House is an office building in Westminster, London, England that was commissioned in 1992 and opened in 2001 to provide offices for 213 members of parliament and their staff. The public entrance is on the Embankment. Part of the Parliamentary Estate, the building augments limited space in the Palace of Westminster and surroundings.
context_section_description: The architects, Michael Hopkins and Partners, published their design in 1993 and the existing buildings on the site were demolished in 1994. At the same time, the London Underground was building the Jubilee Line Extension, including a new interchange station at Westminster tube station which occupies the same area; the two were thus designed and built as a single unit. Construction began with works to the existing District line station at sub-basement level. The track had to be lowered slightly and underpinned to allow the extensive excavation to the Jubilee line many feet below. The building above ground began to rise in 1998 and opened in 2001. It is located at the corner of Bridge Street (at the western end of Westminster Bridge) and Victoria Embankment – overlooking the River Thames – and adjacent to the Norman Shaw South Building, which also overlooks the river.
  The building is named after the chained portcullis used to symbolize the Houses of Parliament on letterheads and official documents. Portcullis House accommodates about one third of members of parliament; other Members and Parliamentary departments have offices in the two Norman Shaw Buildings (formerly known as Scotland Yard), in the buildings at 1 Parliament Street and at 7 Millbank, and in the Palace of Westminster itself.
  The first floor of Portcullis House is open to members of the public to allow attendance at Committee sessions. Throughout the rest of the building, as with the rest of the Parliamentary Estate, members of the public must remain with a passholder. The entrance is guarded by police, and all visitors must submit their bags and coats for X-raying, as well as passing through a metal detector and undergoing a body check.  There is a Post Office branch within Portcullis House that is not open to the public.
caption: Left to right: Portcullis House with the London Eye and the Elizabeth Tower
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