The space constraints faced by the
Old Parliament House were felt since the early 1980s, when the
members of parliament grew from 51 in 1963 to 75 in 1983, a point made by then
Leader of the House,
Edmund William Barker during a parliamentary debate on 16 March 1983. The old building had been renovated several times to accommodate the demand for space, but there was a limit as to how much the building could be widened without disrupting the Chamber's configuration and causing discomfort to its members. The debate concluded in 1989, when the
First Deputy Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong proposed the idea to build a new parliament house. The project started in earnest in May 1989, when a project team was formed to design and build the new house. Headed by
Liu Thai Ker, CEO and Chief Planner of the
Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), it comprised architects and engineers from the URA and the
Public Works Department (PWD). Various designs were put forth by PWD architects for the new site next to the existing parliament house, led by PWD Director Chua Hua Meng and Deputy Director Lee Kut Cheung. In 1992, the project was approved by the
government with a budget of S$148.2 million. The following year, the Committee on the Parliament Complex Development Project was established, headed by the
Speaker of Parliament Tan Soo Khoon, and with
Wong Kan Seng,
Lee Boon Yang, and
Lim Hng Kiang as its members. Tasked to liaise with architects in the planning and construction of the building, the committee members also went on two overseas study missions to gather ideas to be incorporated into the building's design. The first trip was made to
Australia, where visits were made to the newly built
Parliament House in
Canberra. Here, extensive attention was paid to public education of the parliamentary system in the form of galleries, moot parliaments. A second visit was made to
Europe, to incorporate contrasting older, traditional ideas into the building's design. With these ideas incorporated, the new building's concept plan was approved by the
Cabinet in 1994. Construction began in 1995 on the expunged Hallpike Street under the direction of PWD Director Chua Hua Meng and Deputy Director
Tan Chee Wee, and was completed in July 1999 at a cost of S$115.2 million. On 6 September 1999, the
flag of Singapore was lowered for the last time at the old Parliament House, before the ceremonial "walk over" was conducted from the old building to the new. Led by the Speaker of Parliament and the Prime Minister, the entourage of MPs walked along Parliament Place, a renamed segment of High Street, Singapore, before reaching the new Parliament House where the flag was unfurled and hoisted with the national anthem being played. The entourage then filed into the new Chamber, where the parliamentary debate resumed. On 4 October 1999, the building was officially opened with a simple ceremony held at the building's
foyer, where a
stainless steel plaque was unveiled before 100 MPs and invited guests. ==Architecture==