A $12.8 million restoration of Sessions House, which was mothballed because of the Covid-19 pandemic, remains on hold despite the health emergency being declared over.

Dennis Lister, the House of Assembly Speaker, said that work was shut down on updating the historic – but “unsafe” – building when Coronavirus hit in 2020 so that the money budgeted for the project could be used to help deal with the effects of the disease.

The Government has been renting chambers in Veritas Place, in Hamilton, since then to enable MPs to continue meeting.

Renting two floors of the building for parliamentary sessions and legislature offices costs the Government $183,820 per year.

So far, the only planned restoration work that has gone ahead has been the replacement of windows and repairs to the exterior structure of Sessions House, Mr Lister said.

Revised estimates show that $100,000 of the $12.8 million budget has been set aside for work in 2022-2023.

Latest government figures state that by the end of 2021 $3,552,000 had been spent on the refurbishment of the building.

There is no clear date for when restoration work will continue despite the Covid-19 emergency officially coming to an end in November.

Asked why the revamp was halted in 2020, Mr Lister said: “There is nothing happening at the moment because we had a pandemic.

“The funds that had been allocated had to be used elsewhere. Once the economy has bounced back I would expect renovations to proceed.”

Asked if he was frustrated by the delays, Mr Lister said: “I can’t be frustrated – it is what it is. We had to to move because the place was not safe for us to work in.”

Pressed on when the restoration project could restart, Mr Lister said: “There has been no pressure from our side. We haven’t said we want it yesterday,

“There are no sour grapes on our part. We fully understand the situation and support the decisions made.

“The pandemic needed to be dealt with – it had a massive impact worldwide. It is an old building, so it is not as straight forward to deal with as a new building. It’s a process that takes a longer time.”

Michael Dunkley, a One Bermuda Alliance MP and former premier, said being back in Sessions House would add to the “gravity” of parliamentary work.

“The temporary place has done OK, but Sessions House is a much better working environment, it has the committee rooms, and so on.

“I think being in Sessions House adds to the gravity of the work we have to do,” said Mr Dunkley.

Mr Lister had originally said that he expected the revamp to be completed in time for the 400th anniversary of Parliament in August 2020.

The original Request for Proposals was put out to people interested in tendering for the work in June 2018.

At that point the Government said work was “tentatively scheduled” to begin the following month and be concluded in August 2019.

As well as exterior work, the tender document stated: “The objective is to contract for professional architectural interior design and construction project management services in order to provide the best interior design solution for the internal renovation of the Sessions House building (ground floor, upper floor, and tower spaces).

“The design and associated consideration of works will be sensitive to the existing historic building features and provide contemporary and efficiently designed work environments.”

Sessions House, the traditional seat of Parliament and the courts, was erected in 1826.

The Government has not responded to requests for a date for when continuation of the refurbishment will begin.