Scottish Parliament Building

Pre–1707 From to 1707, the Parliament of Scotland served as the national legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland, except for a period during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. For most of its existence, Scotland's Parliament did not have a regular meeting place; between 1438 and 1561, it usually met at the Old Tolbooth, Edinburgh and from 1538 onwards in St Giles' Cathedral. By the 1630's, the Cathedral was becoming inadequate due to the increasing number of Scottish MPs, resulting in the construction of the Parliament House, Edinburgh, which served as Parliament's meeting place until the Acts of Union 1707. The act unified the kingdoms of Scotland and England into the Kingdom of Great Britain, dissolving the Scottish and English parliaments and established the Parliament of Great Britain, which was based in London like its English predecessor. As per the terms of the treaty, Scotland sent 16 Scottish representative peers to the House of Lords and 45 MPs to the House of Commons. Scottish devolution On 11 September 1997, amidst an increase in Scottish nationalism, a devolution referendum was held in Scotland which approved the establishment of a directly elected Scottish Parliament to legislate on most domestic affairs. Following this, the Scottish Office, led by the then Secretary of State for Scotland, Donald Dewar, decided that a new purpose-built facility would be constructed in Edinburgh, to house the Scottish Parliament. Dewar was appointed as the inaugural first minister of the country, serving in the position until his death in October 2000, and subsequently began being referred to as the "Father of the Nation" for his work in achieving Scottish devolution. Design Following on from the site selection, the Scottish Office announced that an international competition would be held to find a designer for a new building to house the Parliament. A design committee was appointed under the chairmanship of Dewar, and was tasked with choosing from a shortlist of designs. Proposals were submitted from internationally renowned architects such as Rafael Viñoly, Michael Wilford and Richard Meier. Construction, which was undertaken by Bovis Lend Lease, Miralles sought to design a parliament building that could represent and present a national identity. This intractably difficult question was tackled by displacing the question of identity onto the landscape of Scotland. In a characteristically poetic approach, he talked about slotting the building into the land "in the form of a gathering situation: an amphitheatre, coming out from Arthur's Seat", where the building would reflect a dialogue between the landscape and the act of people sitting. The result was a non-hierarchical, organic collection of low-lying buildings intended to allow views of, and blend in with, the surrounding rugged scenery, and symbolise the connection between nature and the Scottish people. As a consequence, the building has many features connected to nature and land, such as the leaf shaped motifs of the roof in the Garden Lobby of the building, and the large windows of the debating chamber, committee rooms and the Tower Buildings, which face the broad expanse of Holyrood Park, Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags. Inside the buildings, the connection to the land is reinforced by the use of Scottish rock, such as gneiss and granite in the flooring and walls, and the use of oak and sycamore in the construction of the furniture. The Holyrood site was not entered into the picture until after the official closure date of the competition between the three sites. The date for announcing the winner overran and on the date of the expected announcement instead it was announced that they were going to "rethink their decision" (implying that indeed a decision had been made) and add the Holyrood Brewery site into the running (which had only just closed). However negotiations with the brewing company Scottish and Newcastle, who owned the land, resulted in the company indicating that they would be able to vacate the site in early 1999. As part of the construction process, archaeologists conducted excavations of the site. These investigations found several phases of use of the site before it became the parliamentary complex including some evidence of prehistoric use of the area but not significant amounts, and evidence that a boundary ditch for Canongate was the first major structure in the area and then later plots were created by Holyrood Abbey to gather rents. In these plots various activities took place such as gardening and leather tanning. As royal patronage of Holyrood Abbey continued to rise the area saw more high-status properties with gardens appear in the area. Further evidence suggested activity during the post-medieval period (1580–1707). With the construction of Holyrood Palace, the area became very prestigious and many of the properties were brought up to form larger townhouses, one of which became Queensberry House. The archaeologists found evidence that Charles Maitland, Lord Hatton may have converted the kitchen of Queensberry House into a workshop to illegally skim money from the Royal mint, Lord Hatton was a Master of the Scottish Mint. During the early modern period (1707–1825), with the opening of the New Town, there was an exodus of the wealthy from the area and it went into decline. From 1825 until construction started on the new parliament building, the eastern half of the site became a brewery and Queensberry House was converted to a barracks and later to a House of Refuge. MSPs began to move into the building complex in the summer of 2004, with the official opening by the Queen taking place in October of the same year. == Parliamentary complex ==

Location in the background Comprising an area of 1.6 ha (4 acres), with a perimeter of 480 m (1570 ft), the Scottish Parliament Building is located 1 km (0.6 mi) east of Edinburgh city centre on the edge of the Old Town. The large site previously housed the headquarters of the Scottish and Newcastle brewery which were demolished to make way for the building. The boundary of the site is marked by the Canongate stretch of the Royal Mile on its northern side, Horse Wynd on its eastern side, where the public entrance to the building is, and Reid's Close on its western side. Reid's Close connects the Canongate and Holyrood Road on the southwestern side of the complex. The south eastern side of the complex is bounded by the Our Dynamic Earth visitor attraction which opened in July 1999, and Queen's Drive which fringes the slopes of Salisbury Crags. In the immediate vicinity of the building is the Palace of Holyroodhouse, which is bordered by the broad expanse of Holyrood Park. providing accommodation for MSPs, their researchers and parliamentary staff. The buildings have a variety of features, with the most distinctive external characterisation being the roof of the Tower Buildings, said to be reminiscent of upturned boats on the shoreline. The inspiration had come from Edwin Lutyens' sheds, made from upturned herring busses (boats), which Miralles saw on a visit to Lindisfarne in Northumberland. It is said that in the first design meeting, Miralles, armed with some twigs and leaves, thrust them onto a table and declared "This is the Scottish Parliament", reinforcing the unique and abstract nature of the parliamentary campus. these have been said to represent anvils, hairdryers, guns, question marks or even the hammer and sickle. Shortly after the official opening of the building, Enric Miralles' widow, Benedetta Tagliabue, revealed that the design is simply that of a window curtain pulled back. Her late husband however, enjoying the use of ambiguous forms with multiple meanings, had previously said he would love the profile to evoke an icon of Scottish culture, the painting of The Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch. Sustainability and, in places, upturned fishing boats. Solar panels can also be seen, part of the building's sustainability strategy. The Scottish Parliament Building was designed with a number of sustainability features in mind. The decision to build the Parliament on a brownfield site, and its proximity to hubs of public transport are seen as sustainable, environmentally friendly features. All of the electricity purchased for the building comes from renewable sources and solar panels on the Canongate Building are used for heating water in the complex. A high level of insulation was used to keep the building warm during the winter months. This approach, however, brings with it the potential problem of overheating during the summer due to solar heat gains through the glazing, body heat and the use of computers and electric lighting. Standard solutions to the problem usually involve using energy intensive HVAC systems. The Scottish Parliament Building, however, reduces the requirements for such systems to only 20% of the accommodation by a variety of strategies. Natural ventilation is used wherever possible. A computerised management system senses the temperature in different parts of the Parliament and automatically opens windows to keep the building cool. During summer months, the building opens the windows during the night time when it is unoccupied and permits the heavy concrete floors and structure to cool and rid themselves of heat absorbed during the day. This then helps to keep the building temperature down during the day by absorbing the excess heat from the glazing, occupants and electrical equipment. Some of the concrete floors are further cooled by water from 25 metres (80 ft) deep bore holes beneath the parliamentary campus which also provide water for the toilet facilities. The building achieves the highest rating in the Building Research Establishment's Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM). This is in contrast to the "adversarial" layout reminiscent of other Westminster style national legislatures, including the House of Commons, where government and opposition sit apart and facing one another. There are 131 desks and chairs on the floor of the chamber for all the elected members of the Scottish Parliament and members of the Scottish Government. The desks are constructed out of oak and sycamore and are fitted with a lectern, a microphone and in-built speakers as well as the electronic voting equipment used by MSPs. The roof is supported by a structure of laminated oak beams joined with a total of 112 stainless steel connectors (each slightly different), which in turn are suspended on steel rods from the walls. The connecting nodes were fabricated by welders for Scotland's oil industry. Such a structure enables the debating chamber to span over 30 metres (100 ft) without any supporting columns. Cut into the western wall of the debating chamber are laminated glass panels, of different shapes, intended to give a human dimension to the chamber. At night, light is shone through the glass panels and is projected onto the MSPs' desks to create the impression that the chamber is never unoccupied. On 2 March 2006, a beam in the roof of the debating chamber swung loose from its hinges during a debate, resulting in the evacuation of the debating chamber and the suspension of parliamentary business. Parliament moved to other premises while the whole roof structure was inspected and remedial works were carried out. The structural engineers, Arup, stated that the problem with the collapsed beam was entirely due to the failure of one bolt and the absence of another. There was no design fault. The engineers concluded, in a report to MSPs, that the damage is likely to have been done during construction work on the chamber roof, in the latter phases of the project. The report also indicated that whilst one of the bolts was missing, the other was broken and had damaged threads commensurate with being overtightened or jammed, which twisted the head off, or came close to doing so. Garden Lobby The Garden Lobby is at the centre of the parliamentary complex and connects the debating chamber, committee rooms and administrative offices of the Tower Buildings, with Queensberry House and the MSP building. The Garden Lobby is the place where official events as well as television interviews normally take place and it is used as an open social space for MSPs and parliamentary staff. The rooflights are made from stainless steel and the glasswork is covered by a lattice of solid oak struts. The most distinctive feature of the MSP block are the unusual windows which project out from the building onto the western elevation of the parliamentary complex, inspired by a combination of the repeated leaf motif and the traditional Scottish stepped gable. Constructed from stainless steel and framed in oak, with oak lattices covering the glass, the windows are designed to provide MSPs with privacy and shade from the sun. To remove the uniformity from the western side of the building, the windows jut out at different widths and angles. A stone vaulted ceiling is the principal feature of the Main Hall, which has cross like representations carved into it, reminiscent of the Saltire, the national flag of Scotland. Like much of the parliamentary complex, the materials used to construct the Main Hall and its vaulted ceiling include Kemnay Granite from Aberdeenshire in north east Scotland and Caithness stone, which is used in much of the flooring in the buildings. The centrepiece of the Canongate Building is a two-storey cantilever structure, with the building connected at one end by reinforced concrete and 18 metres (60 ft) of the building suspended above ground and protruding outwards unsupported by any columns. Queensberry House also contains the Donald Dewar Room, dedicated to the founding First Minister of Scotland, who died in October 2000. The room hosts the personal collection of books and other memorabilia donated to the Parliament by the family of Donald Dewar after his death. Artwork and features The Scottish Parliament holds a wide variety of artwork and sculpture ranging from specially commissioned pieces to official gifts from overseas parliamentary delegations. The intention of including artwork and sculptures in the building reinforces the desire of Miralles that the project should reflect the nature of Scotland, particularly its land and people. In order to facilitate the incorporation of art into the building, a consultative steering group was established by the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) under the chairmanship of Jamie Stone MSP with the remit of deciding which artworks should be chosen. Some pieces of artwork are on public display in the building. As well as artwork and sculptures, quotations, furniture and photography have been commissioned as part of the art strategy. Beneath the Canongate Building façade is the Canongate Wall, constructed from a variety of indigenous Scottish rocks, such as Lewisian gneiss, Torridonian sandstone and Easdale slate. The stones are set into large concrete casts, each one inscribed with a quotation. The Canongate Wall contains a total of 24 quotations. Etched along the lower stretch of the wall is a pictorial representation of the Old Town of Edinburgh, based around a sketch by Enric Miralles, showing the view of the Old Town from his bedroom window in the Balmoral Hotel. During meetings of the original Parliament of Scotland, the actual Honours were always present, but since 1819 they have been permanently housed in Edinburgh Castle. The 11 m (36 ft) long Visitor Information Desk also stands in the Main Hall. Commissioned by the art strategy group, the desk combines a unique design constructed from oak and sycamore, and functions as a workstation for six members of parliamentary staff. At a cost of £88,000, the desk has been criticised by some over its price and functionality. Another feature gifted to the Scottish Parliament by the Queen, following its inauguration in July 1999, is the parliamentary mace. The mace is housed in a glass case in the debating chamber, and has a formal, ceremonial role during meetings of the Parliament. The mace sits in front of the Presiding Officers' desk; it is made from silver and inlaid with gold panned from Scottish rivers, and inscribed with the words "Wisdom", "Compassion", "Justice" and "Integrity". The words "There shall be a Scottish Parliament" (which are the first words of the Scotland Act 1998), are inscribed around the head of the mace. At the beginning of each session in the chamber, the case is removed to symbolise that a full meeting of the Parliament is taking place. == Critical response ==

Public reaction to the design of the building has been mixed. In the first six months of the building being open to the public, 250,000 people visited it, which Presiding Officer George Reid has said showed the public were "voting with their feet". Critics of the building, such as Margo MacDonald, pointed out that the high number of visitors does not prove that all of them like the building. As well as the cost, which earned it the name Follyrood among critics, criticisms of the stem primarily from the modernist and abstract architecture, the quality of the construction work and the location. The mixed public reaction contrasts sharply with the response from architectural critics. Its rampant complexity, iconography and layering of meaning and metaphor are widely regarded as producing a building which is "quite a meal". The building has also won a number of awards, including an award at the VIII Biennial of Spanish Architecture, the RIAS Andrew Doolan Award for Architecture, and the 2005 Stirling Prize, the UK's most prestigious architecture award. The inclusion of the Scottish Parliament Building on the shortlist for the Stirling Prize in 2004, led the judges to describe the building as "a statement of sparkling excellence". In October 2005 the building was identified as Scotland's fourth greatest modern building by readers of Prospect. In 2004, the satirical magazine Private Eye also granted the building their Sir Hugh Casson Award for "worst new building of the year". == Problems ==

Timeline of cost increases The construction of the Scottish Parliament Building has generated controversy in several respects. Rising costs and the use of public money to fund the project generated most controversy. Initial estimates for constructing a new building were projected to be between £10m and £40m in 1997. Controversy Notwithstanding the level of controversy surrounding cost, the Scottish Parliament Building proved controversial in a number of other respects: the decision to construct a new building, the choice of site, the selection of a non-Scottish architect, and the selection of Bovis Lend Lease as construction manager after having earlier been excluded from the shortlist. Control of the building project passed from the Scottish Office to the cross-party Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) on 1 June 1999, headed by the Parliament's then Presiding Officer, Sir David Steel, at a time of increasing costs. With the cost increases in mind, and heightened media interest in the Holyrood Project, In August 1999, the architect informed the project group that the Parliament would need to be further increased in size by . A subsequent costing revealed that taking into account the increased floorspace net construction costs had risen to £115m by September 1999. Spencely also cited poor communication between the SPCB and construction officials as increasingly costly. The project was also complicated by the deaths of Miralles in July 2000, of Dewar the following October and the existence of a multi-headed client consisting of the SPCB, the Presiding Officer and an architectural advisor. The client took over the running of the project from the Scottish Executive (formerly the Scottish Office) while it was already under construction. Subsequently, the events of 9/11 led to further design changes, especially with regard to security, which again resulted in rising costs. However, it was later rejected that the re-designs required to incorporate greater security into the building structure were the "single biggest" factor affecting the increased costs of the project. A report published by the Auditor General for Scotland in July 2004 specifically identified elements that contributed to both increasing costs and the delay in completing the project. His report criticised the overall management of the project and stated that had the management and construction process been executed better, costs could have been reduced. The report attempted to identify the reasons why there had been an acceleration in cost from £195m in September 2000 to £431m in February 2004 and concluded that over 2000 design changes to the project were a major factor. The building was finally certified for occupation in the Summer of 2004, with the official opening in October of the same year, three years behind schedule. == Fraser Inquiry ==

In May 2003 the First Minister, Jack McConnell, announced a major public inquiry into the handling of the building project. The inquiry (known as the Holyrood Inquiry, or the Fraser Inquiry) was headed by Lord Fraser of Carmyllie and held at the Scottish Land Court in Edinburgh. The inquiry took evidence from architects, civil servants, politicians and the building companies. Evidence was taken over the course of 49 hearings and the final report ran to 300 pages. The Brief emphasised the importance of design and quality over cost, and was not updated despite considerable evolution of the design. This came after speculation suggesting that Dewar was aware that the initial costs of a new Parliament Building, circulated to the public, were too low. However, in his report, Lord Fraser stated "there was no evidence whatsoever, that he [Dewar] deliberately or knowingly misled MSPs. He relied on cost figures given to him by senior civil servants." John Elvidge, the most senior civil servant in Scotland, admitted that best practice had not been followed and apologised for the way the project had been handled. He did not rule out the possibility of taking disciplinary action against civil service staff, although subsequent Scottish Government investigations resulted in no action being taken against individual public officials involved with the project. == See also ==