The Parliament of Second Thoughts
- Site
- Scottish Parliament Building, Holyrood, at the foot of the Royal Mile, Edinburgh
- Era
- Priced 1997. Built 1999 to 2004. Final account 2007.
- Material
- Oak and stainless steel, revised more than two thousand times
- Intended use
- A home for the new Scottish Parliament, ready in 2001, for somewhere between £10m and £40m
- Actual use
- MSPs moved in for September 2004; the bill came to £414.4m
- Status
- In daily use; a Stirling Prize winner and a standing audit case
EDINBURGH. July 1997. First projection for a parliament building: between £10m and £40m.
January 1998: £90m. April 2000: a ceiling of £195m. May 2004: £431m forecast.
Target for completion: July 2001.
Design changes, per the Auditor General: over 2000.
Added by design development: £80m. Added by contractors’ claims for delay: £86m.
Major contracts with three or fewer bidders: 13 of 20.
Overall budget after June 2001, per Audit Scotland: none.
First debate inside: 7 September 2004.
Final account, February 2007: £414.4m.
Public inquiry: £1m. Culprit named: no single party.
March 2006: a roof beam swings loose over the chamber mid-debate. Engineers’ finding: one failed bolt, one missing, “no design fault.”
2004: worst new building of the year, per Private Eye. 2005: the Stirling Prize.
Over two thousand changes of mind. The last one was about whether it was any good.
