Speech by Sir David Steel MSP, Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, to the Institution of Civil Engineers (East of Scotland Association) Dinner

1999 has been a significant year for all of us in Scotland with the creation of our first Parliament for nearly 300 years. The official opening of the Parliament by HM The Queen on 1 July 1999 is now firmly lodged in the country’s history books and I’m sure it will be one of the more joyous occasions regularly recalled over the coming weeks and months as commentators reflect on the achievements of 1999 and the 20^th century.

As the Parliament’s Presiding Officer, I have the responsibility of chairing the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body – a group made up of 4 representatives one each from the major political parties within the Parliament.

The Corporate Body is responsible for the general housekeeping of the Parliament, overseeing contracts that the Parliament enters into with suppliers, controlling the financial budget of the Parliament, the appointment of Parliamentary staff, and the management of the property which it occupies.

But perhaps the most vital current task of the SPCB is to oversee the construction of the permanent home for the Parliament – a new building which will occupy the prestigious setting in the historical heart of Edinburgh close to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. This site provided Catalan architect Enric Miralles and his Edinburgh partners RMJM, with exactly the right opportunity to develop their particular kind of architecture – organic and free flowing. What other parliament in the world confronts such a powerful landscape? Before a line was drawn the topography was blessed with that most romantic of geological formations, Arthur’s Seat and the great brooding sweep of Salisbury Crags – surely Edinburgh’s oldest icon.

The architects argued that Scotland is a land, not a series of cities and then developed the argument to say that the Parliament should therefore sit "In the Land". This single idea underpinned the programme for the building and set this winning concept distinctly above all the other competitors.

This bold and challenging idea has been faithfully translated into the design. The great line of the Crags sweeps in from Holyrood Park and under the building, a characteristic ploy of Miralles in which landscape and building are indivisible and sometimes indistinguishable.

The second point about the design is of a more architectural nature. Here the desire was formally to de-institutionalise the building, to create a human working scale and a consistency among building types by fragmenting the parts. For the architect, monumentality should have no place in the vision of a forward looking culture proud of its past but slightly nervous of historicism.

One last point about the architect’s approach to a more political matter is the interpretation of the need for openness underlined in the building user brief. In direct contradiction to the often repeated contemporary European model of the glass clad debating chamber through the walls of which the public may observe the proceedings – gold fish syndrome – Miralles took the view that the Chamber must be a space enclosed by solid walls, a serious space without distraction.

The most effective way to witness the proceedings after all is via TV broadcasting to the remotest set in the land or for the record, by a CD-ROM. This will from the beginning be a 21^st Century Parliament.

Delivering a new Parliament building involves a great deal of "Team" effort involving not only the architectural partnership but also the Structural and Services Engineers of Ove Arup and RMJM respectively. Our Construction Managers, Bovis and all the various works contractors as well as the many other consultants who will be appointed, will all play a significant role to ensure that the Parliament gets an efficient and operationally effective building of which Scotland can be proud and which adds to Edinburgh’s rich architecture. A tall order, but one in which everyone associated with the design and construction of the building is committed to achieving.

The Corporate Body has to deliver the building to a parliament in which as I said on the opening day we have a 129 opinions on the design, where greater demands are being made on the space than was originally envisaged, where adjustments are constantly being made and yet we have to struggle to keep within cost limits.

On this occasion it would be amiss of me if I didn’t take the opportunity to mention a little more about our Consulting Engineers – Ove Arup.

I was very interested to learn that Ove Arup have been successful in winning a number of prizes awarded recently by the Institution including the Robert Stephenson 1999 Award for a project in Cumbria (Willowford Bridge) and the Institution’s Paper of the Year Award in connection with the Western Harbour Crossing in Hong Kong. These successes, along with many other construction industry related awards, demonstrate that we have a truly experienced international practice whose role in the building of our new Parliament cannot be underestimated.

What I have been talking about so far are some of the intriguing architectural ideas of our new building. There were some client and operational objectives built into the brief which have had a significant impact on the design. We felt as a client that we should be taking a conspicuous lead by example.

There are three key areas I would like to touch on:

Sustainability,

Accessibility, and

Openness.

The notion of sustainability puts an obligation on us all to minimise the use of energy and the abuse of resource in the construction, environmental control, running and maintenance and even the eventual demolition of buildings. These high sounding words have a practical application in how the building is constructed, what it is built of, how we keep the sun out, heat in, how we source materials, the design of the systems to heat and ventilate the spaces within and lastly, how we look after the fabric. Whilst on this subject it is worth noting that we are proposing to use solar power for some of our domestic hot water heating and extracting cooling from well-water existing below the site.

The requirement to provide accessibility for all to the Parliament means that everyone must be able to take part in the appropriate areas of the democratic process. Proper facilities down to the smallest detail will be provided to make everyone’s visit a pleasure. These considerations have an impact on, for example, physical dimensions and have a big influence on the design no more so than in the Debating Chamber itself.

To establish the best way of meeting the access needs for all, and ensuring that the current legislative requirements and best practices are met an Access Audit Consultant from Buro Happold has been involved since very early on in the design of the building. Under the Chairmanship of Disability Scotland, a Parliament Building Consultation Group has been set up to inform and support Buro Happold on aspects of accessibility. Membership of the Group reflects a range of voluntary sector organisations such as Age Concern, the Royal National Institute for the Deaf, the Royal National Institute for the Blind, ENABLE and Spinal Injuries Scotland and meetings of the Group have taken place across the country. Information and advice from meetings of the Group has been fed back to the Design Team and therefore into design considerations.

This demonstrates our commitment to ensuring that, not only from a physical perspective, the Parliament will be accessible to all.

Lastly we have worked hard to make the building as open as possible – no light task as there is often difficult and sensitive conflict with security requirements which are unfortunately a prominent factor of contemporary life. We have tried to make this stringent regime as discrete as possible.

Easy access to Members will be available and the Chamber will be welcoming to the public, as will all the Committee Rooms. Facilities for the media will make for direct and immediate communication and information. Technology will permit the rapid and effective communication and storage of the business of the Parliament

Before moving away from the design I would like to say a little about the Debating Chamber. There has been much discussion both among MSPs and the public, principally on its form. The discussion has been very fruitful. The final plan adopted is elliptical – which gives the right sense of "sitting together", providing good communication and visibility whilst avoiding the fierce, classic symmetry of the horseshoe plan much favoured by Europeans. This, combined with generous provision for the public, press and distinguished visitors will make the Scottish Chamber one of the most accessible in Europe.

A great deal of attention has been paid by the designers to the quality of light in the chamber which will be naturally lit by both cool north light and controlled sunlight. The rich stained timber interior will provide a fitting space in which to conduct our business, a place to encourage the delicate balance between wit and seriousness, which our deliberations require.

Given the extremely high profile of the project we have put in place various communication tools aimed at keeping those involved or interested in the project informed. These include an exhibition in the Parliament’s temporary Visitor Centre, pages devoted to the project on the Parliament’s Website, a regular Newsletter and presentations and site visits by the Design Team and the Parliament Project Team, similar to the one yourself, Professor Fleming and some colleagues from the Institution were given earlier today.

I am delighted that we are going to provide an on-site Exhibition and Viewing Gallery. This will allow visitors to the area over the next two years an opportunity to learn about the project and to see the construction progress. I very much welcome the Institution’s support for this facility, which we aim to have in place by the Spring.

Although public access to the site itself as provided at Antoni Gaudi’s famous Sagrada Familia in Barcelona will not be possible it is nonetheless an educational facility which will allow safe viewing of, what we hope will be a fast track construction, - unlike the Gaudi Temple (!).

I hope you will have detected a note of enthusiasm for this building which I feel I can convey to you on behalf of the Corporate Body as the client, and the large and dedicated Project Team and Design Team. I’m sure as the detail of this huge undertaking develops and the carcass begins to rise out of the ground we should then appreciate the emergence of one of the great events of our time.

In closing I refer to an earlier remark I made on the significance of the creation of Scotland’s first Parliament for some 300 years. To quote the Institution’s definition: "Civil Engineering is the practice of improving and maintaining the built and natural environment to enhance the quality of life for present and future generations." It should not be underestimated the key role Civil Engineers will inevitably have on the changes that lie ahead for us all as we re-adjust our lives and working practices to take advantage of the benefits we all hope our new Parliament will bring.