Scottish Parliament Building

The Scottish Parliament Building, located inside the UNESCO World Heritage Site in downtown Edinburgh, is the home of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood. The building's construction began in June 1999, and the first discussion in the new facility was conducted on September 7, 2004, by Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the building on October 9, 2004. Enric Miralles, the building's Spanish architect, died before it was finished.

The Scottish Parliament's committee rooms and debating chamber were situated in the General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland on The Mound in Edinburgh from 1999 until the inauguration of the new facility in 2004. Office and administrative space for Parliament was provided in buildings leased by the City of Edinburgh Council. The new Scottish Parliament Building combined these disparate aspects into a purpose-built legislative complex that houses 129 MSPs as well as over 1,000 employees and government officials.

The probe, which finished in September 2004, criticized the whole project's administration, from the realization of cost increases to the manner in which key design revisions were handled. Despite these issues and a mixed public reception, architectural experts and critics praised the structure. The structure was designed to create a poetic unity between the Scottish environment, its people, and culture, as well as the city of Edinburgh. The Parliament Building received multiple prizes, including the Stirling Prize in 2005, and has been characterized as "a tour de force of arts and crafts and excellence without precedent in the previous 100 years of British architecture" by landscape architect Charles Jencks.

Location: Holyrood, Edinburgh, EH99 1SP, Scotland