Our new Parliament building continues to make the headlines. After being completed 4 years late and roughly £400 million over budget, the parliamentarians (MSPs) have had to vacate the debating chamber because one of the roof beams came loose and swung down, dangerously close to a Conservative MSP - not close enough some might say! Locals are divided as what they think of the buidling. It certainly stands out, and I'll post pictures of what it's like from the outside, but the inside is really something else. This is the main debating chamber - truly a spectacular working environment. As I was driving home through the Park and past the parliament, I could smell the first cut grass of the season, and coupled with it being a balmy 10°C, spring is in the air!!
8 comments:
welcome aboard captain.....
yeah, i agree it looks stunning, inside :) 400mil. over ..who did the initial estimate :o
wow, that's a big delay and big over budget...the place is beautiful tho'. Do u work there?
Wow, an expensive building but I like the warm colors of the inside from your photo. Looks like they used natural materials - woods mainly - for the interior decoration.
Sounds like the story of any of our governmental buildings :)
Welcome from Rotterdam!
Wow! I've never seen inside. I knew there was a big scandal about it being over budget and not being made according to MIralle's plans.
Hi and welcome. Good pictures you got around here. I added your link to follow you from now on.
The chamber, and in fact the whole building was designed to let in as much natural light as possible and to use natural materials from all over Scotland. Lisi, no I don't work there - I do sort of work for the government though... I'm a teacher.
When the plans were first laid out, there was a magical figure of £40 million that was told to the press. There has been a public enquiry since about the costs, but no-one is quite sure where the figure came from, and what was included in a building of that budget. Anyway, to add to the problems, the design was decided in 1997 - the Parliament didn't start until 1999, so it was overseen by civil servants! - bad idea! Then the First Minister of Scotland, Donald Dewar, who proposed this building died. Then so did the architect, Enric Miralles! It was all in limbo for a while. Then there was 9/11 and that meant they had to go back and re-do the design to enhance the security. The whole time, the costs spiralled out of control.
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